JAL said the problem began on Thursday morning, when the company’s network connecting internal and external systems began to malfunction. But airline representatives insist that the attack did not affect flight safety.
The carrier said that it was able to identify the cause of the attack as an attack intended to overload the network system with massive data transfer. Such attacks flood a system or network with traffic until the target is unable to respond or crashes.
The attack was not related to a virus and did not result in any customer data leakage, JAL said. As of late morning, the cyberattack had delayed 24 domestic flights by more than 30 minutes.
Warnings about the vulnerability of Japanese infrastructure
Experts have repeatedly expressed concern about Japan’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities, especially as the country strengthens its defense capabilities and works more closely with the United States and other partners that have much stronger cyber defenses.
Japan has taken some steps, but experts say more work needs to be done.
In June, the Japanese space agency announced that it had suffered a series of cyberattacks since 2023, although confidential information related to missiles, satellites, and defense was not affected.
The agency is conducting an investigation to take preventive measures. Last year, a cyberattack paralyzed a container terminal in the port of Nagoya for three days.
Ticket sales for JAL’s domestic and international flights scheduled for Thursday were temporarily suspended, but resumed a few hours later.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a regular press conference on Thursday that the Ministry of Transportation has asked JAL to speed up efforts to restore the system and accommodate affected passengers.
Other Japanese airlines, including ANA Holdings, Skymark and Starflyer, were not affected.
Television footage showed many passengers at Tokyo’s Haneda airport huddled in the terminals as the attack hit during the end-of-year holiday travel season.
Offices will be closed from this weekend for the New Year holidays, the biggest holiday of the year when millions of people return to their homes from megacities.
