Japan airlines hit by cyberattack
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Following the announcement of the cyberattack, JAL’s shares have dropped by as much as 2.5% during morning trade before showing slight recovery.
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Japan Airlines passenger planes are seen on the tarmac at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
Japan Airlines (JAL) announced on Thursday that it had experienced a cyberattack, leading to delays for both domestic and international flights but later confirmed it had identified and resolved the issue.
According to public broadcaster NHK, disruptions in JAL's baggage check-in system caused delays for over a dozen flights at various Japanese airports, though no widespread cancellations or major disruptions were reported.
JAL, Japan’s second-largest airline after All Nippon Airways (ANA), shared on the social media platform X: "We identified and addressed the cause of the issue. We are checking the system recovery status."
The airline also announced a temporary suspension of ticket sales for flights departing Thursday, adding, "We apologize for any inconvenience caused."
In a statement, JAL explained that the network disruption began at 7:24 am Thursday (2224 GMT Wednesday). By 8:56 am, the airline isolated the problematic router, a device facilitating data exchange between networks, to contain the issue.
Driving the news
Following the announcement, JAL’s shares dropped by 2.5% during morning trade before slightly recovering.
This incident places JAL among the growing number of Japanese organizations targeted by cyberattacks.
In 2023, Japan’s space agency JAXA reported a suspected cyber intrusion, though no sensitive data was compromised. The same year, Nagoya Port suffered a ransomware attack.
Additionally, Japan's National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC) was reportedly infiltrated by hackers for nine months in 2023.
Earlier cases include a 2022 cyberattack on a Toyota supplier that forced the automaker to halt domestic production for a day. More recently, in June, the video-sharing platform Niconico suspended services due to a large-scale cyberattack.
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