The Port of Seattle has confirmed that a targeted cyberattack caused IT outages and subsequent travel disruptions over the weekend.
It affected the Port of Seattle and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, primarily affecting air travelers.
There is no news of any cruise operations being affected.
Seattle had a busy weekend with several ships in port, but initially, no disruptions were reported for cruise ship guest check-in. The problem, however, came with hundreds of people arriving before and when the cruise ships left port. Flight delays At the Seattle-Tacoma Airport.
| “We are conducting a thorough investigation with the assistance of outside experts. We have contacted and are working closely with our federal partners, including TSA and Customs and Border Protection,” said Lance Lyttle, general manager of aviation. |
The TSA said it was operating well and passenger screening was not affected. However, the flight delays were caused by an unresponsive check-in system. This resulted in time-consuming manual check-in processes, causing some passengers to wait in line for hours on Sunday.
Hundreds of flights delayed
According to flight tracking websites Flight AwarenessOn Sunday, 460 flights were delayed and five were cancelled. More than 70,000 passengers had flights booked yesterday. The outage also affected the baggage system.
Alaska Airlines said: “We are beginning to see some impacts to the baggage sorting system at the Port of Seattle, so we are proactively warning customers departing from Seattle to avoid checking bags if possible.”
this Cyber Attacks Operations at the Port of Seattle began to be impacted Saturday morning with internet access outages. As of Monday morning, the Port of Seattle public website remained offline.
Port Authority officials still don’t know why they were targeted in the cyberattack or what the purpose was.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration issued an executive order giving the U.S. Coast Guard more power to respond to cybersecurity incidents following warnings from the Department of Homeland Security that ports were increasingly being targeted by cyberattacks.
