Russian airline Aeroflot experienced a major disruption in its IT systems, leading to the cancellation of dozens of flights. Responsibility for the cyberattack was claimed by a hacker group calling itself Silent Crow. In a statement attributed to the group, they claimed the operation was carried out in collaboration with the Belarusian hacker collective Cyberpartisans BY, stating that the motive behind the attack was tied to Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
The statement from the attackers included the slogans “Glory to Ukraine!” and “Long live Belarus!”, though Reuters has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the message. Silent Crow had previously claimed responsibility for other cyber incidents – notably in January, when the group said it had breached a Russian real estate database.
Aeroflot acknowledged a technical malfunction that led to the cancellation of over 40 flights. The company did not provide specific information about the source of the issue or the timeline for resolving it, stating only that specialists are working to restore normal operations and minimize disruptions to the flight schedule. The airline’s official Telegram channel listed the affected flights, which include both domestic and international routes – notably to Minsk and Yerevan. Passengers whose flights from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport were canceled were asked to retrieve their luggage and leave the terminal.
According to the Telegram channel Baza, the disruption caused chaos and panic in the terminal, with passengers stuck in long queues for hours as they tried to exit the airport.
In its statement, the hacker group Silent Crow claimed that the operation against Aeroflot had been in the works for over a year, allowing them to deeply infiltrate the company’s networks, destroy more than 7,000 servers, and even gain access to employees’ personal computers – including those of senior management. However, no evidence has been provided to support these claims. The hackers also threatened to soon publish the personal data of all passengers who have ever used Aeroflot’s services.
Despite heavy international sanctions that have restricted the flight geography of Russian airlines following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Aeroflot remains among the world’s 20 largest carriers by passenger numbers. According to the company’s own official statistics, the Aeroflot Group transported 55.3 million passengers in 2024.
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Source: reuters
