Cybercriminal group targets North American airlines
A well-known cybercriminal group has set its attention to the aviation sector, breaching the computer systems of multiple airlines in the United States and Canada in June, according to the FBI and cybersecurity firms responding to the attacks.
Although flight safety was not compromised, the breaches have raised serious concerns among cybersecurity leaders at major airlines. The group behind the intrusions—known as “Scattered Spider”—is a loosely organized network of young hackers notorious for aggressive extortion tactics and publicly shaming their victims.
The attacks come at a critical time for the travel industry, as the busy summer season gets underway. Aviation is now the third major US sector, after insurance and retail, to be hit by a string of cyberattacks linked to this group in just two months.
Cybercrime has become a massive global industry and, despite ongoing efforts by governments and corporations to prevent these attacks, history shows that stopping them is no easy task. Explore the following gallery to learn about some of the most notorious cyberattacks in history.
What's a cyber attack?
They are attacks made from one or more computers, toward another computer, group of computers, or network.
How hackers attack computers
Hackers use a variety of methods to conduct cyber attacks. They can operate alone or in groups, launching coordinated attacks.
Email is still a vulnerability
According to a report from JumpCloud, 94% of malware (viruses, trojans, worms, etc.) is delivered by email.
Morris Worm
The estimated damage was US$10 to US$100 million.
MafiaBoy
The attacked websites included Amazon, CNN, eBay, and Yahoo!. The attacks resulted in an estimated damage of $US1.7 billion.
Google China
The Chinese government was suspected of being behind the attack. In 2010, Google relocated its servers to Hong Kong.
Jonathan James
This allowed him to steal NASA software worth US$1.7 million. The systems were impacted for three weeks, costing NASA US$41,000. Jonathan James committed suicide in 2008.
Phone lines blocked to win car
He successfully blocked any other callers and eventually won the car. He was later sentenced to five years in prison.
Scientology
This was just one of many attacks by the group known as 'Anonymous.'
Solar Sunrise
The US government first suspected that Iraqi operatives were behind the cyber attack.
Melissa virus
The virus has reportedly caused about US$1.1 billion in damages worldwide.
2002 internet attack
This was one of the the most complex cyber attacks in history, and could have had disastrous consequences if it had lasted for more than one hour.
Credit card galore
Gonzalez then reportedly spent US$75,000 on a birthday party. This is still the biggest card fraud in history.
Paypal
As a result, several individual users boycotted Paypal and hackers launched an attack on the company. The estimated damage was approximately US$4.5 million.
Stuxnet
Iran blamed the United States and Israel for the attacks.
US Treasury
A Chinese state sponsored hacker infiltrated the US Treasury Department's systems in early December 2024, gaining access to employee workstations and certain unclassified documents, according to American officials.
The Treasury Department described the breach as a "major incident" and is currently working with the FBI, amongst other agencies, to investigate the hack's impact.
