British Police Arrest Cyber Attack Perpetrators Who Made A Flight Schedule

UNSPLASH/Sofya Kholodkova ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The British police arrested a man as part of an investigation into a ransomware attack against Collins Aerospace, belonging to RTX, which caused a check-in system at offline airports and caused widespread travel disruptions across Europe.

The National Crime Agency (National Crime Agency) said in a statement that the man in his 40s was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of violating the Computer Abuse Act and has been released on conditional bail.

"Although this arrest is a positive step, the investigation into this incident is still in its early stages and is still ongoing," said NCA Deputy Director Paul Foster.

It remains unclear which criminal group was behind last week's hack. An NCA spokesman declined to provide further details.

Ransomware gangs routinely publish attacks and leak stolen data on the dark web's "loss site", but websites monitoring the portal, as of Wednesday, have yet to detect any group claiming the hack.

Ransomware is a malicious software used by cybercriminals to encrypt company data and demand payment for its release.

They usually operate secretly, and many try to avoid targets that might make them get unwanted attention from law enforcement agencies.

The attack on Collins Aerospace is the latest in a series of online hacking in Europe that has had significant offline consequences.

Britain's largest automaker Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by Tata Motors India, said it extended its factory shutdown until October 1 following this month's hack that paralyzed its operations and made smaller suppliers difficult.

Berlin Airport, one of several airports across Europe affected by the Collins Aerospace hack, said it might take a few more days before the software is functioning and safe to return, the BER operator said.