Japan Airlines Hits Cyber Attack, Flight Delayed

JAKARTA - Cyberattacks on aircraft systems can pose a very serious danger, both for passengers, crew, and aircraft themselves.

Today Thursday, December 26, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced that it has been targeted by cyberattacks that have delayed several domestic and international flights.

The attack began at 7:24 a.m. local time (2224 GMT) and affected the company's internal and external systems, JAL said.

The company said it was temporarily turning off a router that caused system malfunctions and also suspended ticket sales for flights departing on Thursday.

Meanwhile, ANA Holdings, another major airline in Japan, saw no sign of an attack on their system.

Earlier this week, American Airlines reportedly also stopped all flights for an hour, disrupting the journey of thousands of people on Christmas Eve, due to technical problems involving their network hardware.