UN aviation agency ICAO was ‘hacked by Chinese group’ and tried conceal it, report claims
- The UN agency is responsible for setting international civil aviation standards, including for safety and security
- Attack allowed malware to spread throughout the airline industry
The Montreal-based United Nations aviation agency concealed for months a hack of its computers and allowed malware to spread throughout the airline industry, Canada’s public broadcaster reported.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had in November 2016 been the victim of the “most serious cyberattack in its history,” Radio-Canada said.
Internal documents obtained by the broadcaster revealed a flawed response to the attack – believed to have been launched by a Chinese hacker group – mired in delays, obstruction and negligence, and attempts by staff to hide their incompetence.
American plane maker and defence contractor Lockheed Martin was the first to raise concerns, alerting the ICAO that its servers had been hijacked to spread malware to government and airline computers.
In an email to the ICAO, the Lockheed Martin cyberintelligence analyst described the attack as “a significant threat to the aviation industry”.