Flights across Russia were grounded after a cyberattack targeted the country’s largest airline, Aeroflot, on Monday. Details of the attack remain limited, but a pro-Ukrainian hacker group called Silent Crow, known for targeting Russian organizations, claimed responsibility alongside Belarusian hackers. The group cited Russia’s occupation of Ukraine as their motivation.
In a Telegram post reviewed by TechCrunch, the hackers stated they had gained control of Aeroflot’s critical systems, including terabytes of internal data. They claimed to have “destroyed” the airline’s systems they accessed. Screenshots shared by the group allegedly showed their infiltration of several Aeroflot systems, including its internal active directory of users.
Aeroflot’s website was unavailable on Monday, displaying an error message stating it had been “temporarily restricted.” Footage from inside a Russian airport showed departure screens listing widespread flight cancellations.
Russian prosecutors confirmed the disruption, stating that over 60 flights were canceled due to a “hacker attack.” The full extent of the damage and the airline’s recovery efforts remain unclear.