Russian hackers target thousands of British flights in ‘extremely dangerous' attacks on navigation systems
22 April 2024, 06:24
Thousands of British flights have been targeted by Russian hackers in 'extremely dangerous' attacks on plane navigations systems.
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Holidaymakers' safety has been put at risk after extensive hacking attempts by suspected Russian attackers attempting to jam aviation systems using corrupt or bogus data.
Aviation sources have branded the tactic “extremely dangerous” after it was revealed that the foreign electronic attacks rendered plane satnavs useless.
The process leaves aircraft GPS unable to locate aircraft, understand pre-planned routes or confirm their proximity to other planes.
According to the figures, over the space of eight months to the end of March, some 2,309 Ryanair flights, 1,368 Wizz Air planes and 82 British Airways flights were affected while travelling in the Baltic region.
Seven Jet2 flights, four EasyJet flights and seven operated by TUI were also affected by the suspected Russian jamming and spoofing attempts.
The bogus data fed to the computers forced planes to swerve and dive according to The Sun, in a bid to avoid non-existant obstacles that appeared on navigation screens.
The concept of 'spoofing' sees fake signals interfere with navigation systemsm tricking aircraft into thinking they are located somewhere they're not.
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Meanwhile, the process of jamming sees genuine signals from satellites guiding the planes drowned out by noise and bogus data.
Luc Tytgat, boss of EASA, said: “We have seen a sharp rise in attacks on these systems, which poses a safety risk.”
It comes as the plane flying Defence Secretary Grant Shapps saw its navigation systems jammed last month as it flew over Poland.
It leaves the GPS and Europe’s Galileo system usually used to guide aircraft are null and void.
According to The Sun, it's a threat one industry source labelled "extremely dangerous".
“The information from the Russians is spurious. It is extremely dangerous,” they said.
It comes as Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister shut down David Cameron's claims that using RAF jets to shoot down Russian drones over Ukraine would lead to a 'dangerous escalation' in the conflict.
Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Dmytro Kuleba said Lord Cameron is "a very good friend of Ukraine" but there had been "uncomfortable conversations" at their last meeting in Brussels.
