Ukrainian hacktivists disrupt Russian airports

On September 28, 2023, Ukrainian hacktivists launched a DDoS attack against Leonardo, the Russian flight booking system, taking down its website. For a few hours, Russian airport staff had to manually check in flyers, which created significant waiting lines and flight delays.

The Russian industrialist Rostec, which operates Leonardo, acknowledged the cyberattack, attributing it to Ukraine. “Ukraine’s computer army,” which gathers thousands of pro-Kiev activists, claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram channel.

Russian airlines have been using Leonardo since 2022, even though it was developed back in 2014. Indeed, the invasion of Ukraine has forced Russia to stop doing business with a number of international companies, and the country has thus fallen back on Russian solutions.