Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) faced a cyber attack that caused its website and application to be disconnected for a few hours. On May 24, SAS clients began having issues accessing the airline’s website. The same day, Anonymous Sudan claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on their Telegram channel.
Anonymous Sudan demanded $3500 in ransom to stop the attack and gave SAS one hour to agree with their bot on Telegram. If SAS didn’t comply, the group threatened to continue the attack throughout the day and leak the company’s data.
During the attack, SAS redirected its customers to the official Danish version of the airline’s website, which was also targeted by the hackers. As a result, both the SAS website and application were still down by evening that day.
According to SAS’s corporate website, the airline, which represents Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, usually carries out over 800 regular flights per day to more than 130 destinations worldwide.
Anonymous Sudan is known for hacking Israeli companies’ websites and previously shutting down Iron Dome and the early warning system in Israel. They released their warning message after a missile attack in which three people were injured.
It is unclear if SAS paid the ransom or not, and the airline has not issued a statement regarding the attack. Nevertheless, this hacking incident highlights the vulnerability that major corporations face in digital environments.