CNN
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As record numbers of travelers are expected this upcoming Labor Day weekend, a cyberattack is forcing one of the nation’s largest airports to resort to bare essentials. Computer systems at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport went down Saturday, and authorities say they have no forecast yet for when they will be restored.
“We are working around the clock to bring the necessary systems back online and mitigate the impact on passengers,” Aviation Chief Executive Lance Lyttle said at a press conference on Sunday.
The attack targeted the Port of Seattle, which operates the airport. Online communications were affected, including the website the airport uses to inform passengers of the status of their flights. However, a workaround website with basic information was online on Wednesday. The airport’s Wi-Fi and baggage handling system are down and the port’s email system went offline, officials said.
Port of Seattle officials have not released details about how the cyberattack was carried out, other than to say “nefarious characters” were involved. “That’s the question on everyone’s mind, and our entire staff is working to figure out exactly what happened,” airport spokesman Perry Cooper said at a news conference Monday.
The computer system outage occurred after the TSA announced it would screen 17 million people during the holiday travel season – a possible new record. In addition, the airline industry worldwide was paralyzed by a software problem from CrowdStrike that led to massive flight delays and cancellations.
While most major airlines at the airport process passengers through their own computer networks, which were not affected, airport officials said smaller airlines and some international flights were affected, requiring passengers to check in by hand. “Be prepared for long lines as some airlines are providing manual baggage tags and boarding passes,” the airport warned in a post on X.
The airport known to many travelers as Sea-Tac — though it officially dropped that moniker in 2020 — this week recruited a small army of dockworkers from other departments who donned bright green vests and worked inside the terminal to tell people where to go and what to expect. Electronic screens, whose information is fed by the airport’s computer network, were replaced with blank whiteboards.
Airport officials have stressed that their core flight and security operations have not been affected by the computer outage. Only a few cancellations and a few flight delays have been reported. Still, it is a nuisance for passengers at the busy airport – the country’s 11th busiest – who are advised to check in online before arriving.
“It’s crazy that all signs of the cyberattack have disappeared and the entire crew out here is having to do things manually that would normally be done electronically,” a passenger told CNN affiliate KING on Monday.
The cyberattack affected the airport’s automated baggage handling system, causing delays in some bags arriving at their correct destination, airport officials said. “If you can travel without checking baggage, do so,” Cooper said.
The Port of Seattle says federal investigators, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, are looking into the incident, but airport officials still don’t know when the website will be fully available and departure signs will be back on.
“We have no time or date when the problem will be resolved,” Cooper said Tuesday.
