Japan Airlines (JAL) announced on its official X account on Thursday that it had experienced a cyberattack, causing significant disruptions during the peak year-end travel season. The attack resulted in delays for more than 20 domestic flights, with some reports indicating that both domestic and international flights were affected.
The incident began at approximately 7:24 a.m. local time when JAL’s network systems, responsible for both internal and external communications, were overwhelmed by a flood of data transmissions. This type of cyberattack, known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), aims to disrupt normal traffic by saturating the target with excessive data, causing system malfunctions and connectivity issues.
In response to the attack, JAL temporarily suspended same-day ticket sales for both domestic and international flights to mitigate further complications. The airline also shut down a router to address the system failures.
JAL assured the public that flight safety was not compromised, that customer information was not leaked, or that computer viruses did not damage the aircraft. By late morning, the airline had identified the cause of the network issues and successfully restored its systems, resuming normal operations shortly thereafter.
Cyberattacks on Japan’s Key Sectors on the Rise
This incident is not isolated; Japanese institutions and companies have been frequent targets of cyberattacks in recent years. Notably, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Port of Nagoya suffered cyber intrusions in 2023, and automotive manufacturer Toyota faced similar challenges in 2022.
