Serious question: is Russia behind the IT crash at British Airways that has caused an operational meltdown tonight?
For the second time in less than a week, an IT crash at British Airways has brought operations to a stand-still. Critical systems stopped functioning and thousands of travelers face delays as BA attempts to switch on back-up systems.
At London Heathrow, passengers are even reporting that display screens are down:
#BritishAirways seems to be suffering a catastrophic systems failure atm. Website down. App down. Airport screens down. Sitting at the gate at T5 waiting to board but nobody seems to know what is happening. @British_Airways
— McG (@mikeygwill) February 25, 2022
The latest meltdown comes on the same day that Russia retaliated against the United Kingdom for its ban on Aeroflot flights by banning British Airways from serving or overflying Russia (all British airlines are impacted).
While British Airways denies that a cyberattack is behind the latest meltdown, the timing and incidence of this meltdown leads us to reasonably question if Russia could be behind this. In our new generation of war, battles are fought not just on the ground, air, and sea, but in cyberspace. As Russians inflict cyberattacks on Ukraine (and Ukraine responds by inflicting cyberattacks on Russia), is it really so far-fetched to wonder if Russia might be behind these sudden meltdowns, even if the evidence initially suggests that is not the case?
At this point, however, British Airways is only blaming the problem on a “technical issue.”
We’re investigating and working hard to resolve a technical issue and apologise for the inconvenience. We will provide further updates as quickly as possible. Julie
— British Airways (@British_Airways) February 25, 2022
And it could simply be a non-pernicious technical issue…after all, the British Airways data breach in 2018 was an unforced error according to investigators, who fined British Airways for not taking adequate security measures, like two-factor authentication, to prevent hackers from breaking in and harvesting personal information.
> Read More: British Airways Vows To Fight Massive Fine For Data Breach
CONCLUSION
British Airways is currently suffering an operational meltdown, just hours after British carriers were banned from serving Russia and a day after the UK banned Russian operators from serving Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
While there is no conclusive evidence to suggest Russia is behind the operational meltdown, it is not unreasonable to wonder if there is a link, especially as Ukraine also finds itself burdened with a barrage of cyberattacks.
BA’s IT infrastructure is permanently in a shambolic state. Whatever their faults, most other airlines seem to only have issues once in a blue moon, BA tend to suffer a meltdown at least every few months. Even if there is some external interference in this particular instance, it will likely be the result of deficient security.
@ Matthew — Well, a BA IT failure caused our involuntary re-route from BA to UA Polaris BEFORE the war started a few days ago, so who knows…
Your article reflects my thoughts exactly. Who knows in this crazy world! Being late for a flight vs having to say goodbye to your children and facing a war or loosing family and friends really isn’t being late for a flight insignificant
Would not surprise me. It would not surprise me as well that BA would deny it so as not to send fear into the traveling public that this is about to become a thing.
Come on Matthew, the Russians would never do such a thing. They love the British and even periodically send over some Spetsnaz officers to go visit Russian expats to give them surprise gifts like ricin and polonium.
I am tempted to chuckle, but the sad thing is you are right and this is no joke. What a sad world.
It could be Russia, but BA’s IT is so bad you wouldn’t know unless someone official came right out and said it (which is unlikely).
I think Russia has some more important targets than BA’s IT system, which is in permanent shambles at a baseline state ..
I wouldn’t be surprised if Russian state-sponsored hackers had a hand in the BA meltdown. If true I’d wonder if Delta will be next due to the Aeroflot breakup.
@James put the welfare-provided meth pipe down and seek professional help for your TDS, he isn’t Your President right now and even CNN says the Steele Dossier was a fake.
BA’s IT messes provide plenty of opportunity for nefarious state actors and state-backed actors to make a further mess of things by exploiting the encountered mess that was already in place.
Maybe Putin will find out how his national gas station can have problems doing business if his opponents are willing to eat the costs of seeing Putin’s national gas station shut down and otherwise extensively side-lined by various means that don’t involve further bloodshed but do involve computers. Unfortunately, I doubt this will happen as much as it could or stick around for as long as needed to change Russia’s behavior. I say this because too many people are hooked to “what does this cost me in money (or whatever) right now?!?!?” and will throw a fit and surrender commitment to an approach when they see higher energy food or other costs hitting them because of it. Material selfishness may fly for a while, but if you stand for no principles too long because of it, one day you or your future generation may again find that free people are no more where they used to be and it’s back to being subjugated like peasants to the whims of those brutal crooks who seize power and push humanity back toward a more Hobbesian state of nature.
DaninMCI and other Lord Trump worshipers are part of the reason Putin is in a more aggressive and formidable position now than he would otherwise have been if he had not become President in 2017. Trump remains not only a Putin-cheerleader, Trump remains a Putin-enabler.
In the KGB playbook, Putin and his like would see Trump for what Trump has been and remains for Putin’s Russia: their “useful idiot”. Trump remains Putin’s useful idiot, with the consequences still playing out.
Obama era – Putin takes Crimea and Donbass
Trump era – Putin takes nothing
Biden era – Putin takes all of Ukraine
Care to explain how this fits in your knowledge of the KGB playbook ?
G W Bush era — Putin invades Georgia.
Trump era — Putin knows Trump is his useful idiot in power, and with Trump in charge the expansion and strengthening of NATO is off the cards and so Putin can play the long game and get better positioning under cover of his useful idiot Trump.
Notice how it’s Putin’s useful idiot Trump that has his preferred “allies” in India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel who have been standing alongside China in being wishy-washy about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this week? These countries are about as reliable as “allies” to the US as Pakistan, and that’s saying a lot given how dangerously unreliable Pakistan has always been.
Trump’s buddy in North Korea goes even further by blaming the US for Russia’s invasion this time.
Just very peculiar situation. Suddenly IT problems while Aeroflot is banned to UK.
You do the maths. BA does not want to look helpless and fragile, too late!
It is not only UK but EU companies and institutions will be having breaches in the coming days or weeks when the West isolates Russia even more. Welcome to the new era of cyber war.