A key question remained unanswered after an outage to a secure communications system that grounded all U.S. flights on Wednesday: How is this possible?
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday would not rule out a cyberattack as the cause of a massive system outage that grounded all aircraft in the U.S. earlier in the day and prompted new concerns among analysts and officials about vulnerabilities with the potential to cripple America’s critical infrastructure.
We’re not prepared to rule that out,” Buttigieg told MSNBC when asked whether domestic or foreign actors could have disrupted the Federal Aviation Administration system that sends safety information to pilots known as Notices to Airmen, or NOTAM.
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People pass through Salt Lake City International Airport on Jan. 11, 2023, in Utah. A massive system outage grounded all aircraft in the U.S
People pass through Salt Lake City International Airport on Jan. 11, 2023, in Utah. A massive system outage grounded all aircraft in the U.S.(RICK BOWER/A
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday would not rule out a cyberattack as the cause of a massive system outage that grounded all aircraft in the U.S. earlier in the day and prompted new concerns among analysts and officials about vulnerabilities with the potential to cripple America’s critical infrastructur
[ EXPLAINER: Why U.S. Flights Were Grounded by a FAA System Outage
“We’re not prepared to rule that out,” Buttigieg told MSNBC when asked whether domestic or foreign actors could have disrupted the Federal Aviation Administration system that sends safety information to pilots known as Notices to Airmen, or NOTAM
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“There is no direct indication of any type of external or nefarious activity,” he added, noting that the FBI is conducting an investigation into the cause as well as, at his direction, the FAA
But the secretary highlighted one of the key questions that remains unanswered: “How is it possible for there to be this level of disruption
More than 4,000 flights were delayed and more than 600 others were canceled as of Wednesday morning following an outage that lasted for more than an hour to the system that disseminates information to pilots, such as issues with other aviation systems, upcoming events with the potential to disrupt traffic such as planned military exercises or blockages on airport runways. The system first began failing at 2 a.m. Eastern time, and the FAA ordered a halt to all domestic flights until 9 a.m.
Flights were slowly beginning to resume at the time Buttigieg spoke. But the gravity of the total seizure of U.S. commercial air traffic prompted many with deep experience defending against American adversaries to express new concerns.
“The airline national stoppage may or may not be a cyber attack,” retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, the former top officer for operations in Europe, wrote on Twitter with an accompanying picture showing the grounded flights, “but even if it is not, it certainly shows us what one could look like. Good wake up call
John Hultquist, a former U.S. intelligence analyst now with private intelligence firm Mandiant, expressed doubt about a “sinister cyber plot” as the root of Wednesday’s outage, but added a grave warning.
“If you're looking for cybersecurity angles I think it's this,” he wrote on Twitter. “We live in an increasingly complex, interdependent system that is prone to unforeseen consequences and cascading failures
Buttigieg on Wednesday focused particularly on the series of redundancies built into the system, like most that help protect all commercial traffic, and why those failed. .
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People pass through Salt Lake City International Airport on Jan. 11, 2023, in Utah. A massive system outage grounded all aircraft in the U.S.
People pass through Salt Lake City International Airport on Jan. 11, 2023, in Utah. A massive system outage grounded all aircraft in the U.S.(RICK BOWER/AP)
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday would not rule out a cyberattack as the cause of a massive system outage that grounded all aircraft in the U.S. earlier in the day and prompted new concerns among analysts and officials about vulnerabilities with the potential to cripple America’s critical infrastructure.
[ EXPLAINER: Why U.S. Flights Were Grounded by a FAA System Outage ]
“We’re not prepared to rule that out,” Buttigieg told MSNBC when asked whether domestic or foreign actors could have disrupted the Federal Aviation Administration system that sends safety information to pilots known as Notices to Airmen, or NOTAM.
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“There is no direct indication of any type of external or nefarious activity,” he added, noting that the FBI is conducting an investigation into the cause as well as, at his direction, the FAA.
But the secretary highlighted one of the key questions that remains unanswered: “How is it possible for there to be this level of disruption?”
More than 4,000 flights were delayed and more than 600 others were canceled as of Wednesday morning following an outage that lasted for more than an hour to the system that disseminates information to pilots, such as issues with other aviation systems, upcoming events with the potential to disrupt traffic such as planned military exercises or blockages on airport runways. The system first began failing at 2 a.m. Eastern time, and the FAA ordered a halt to all domestic flights until 9 a.m.
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Flights were slowly beginning to resume at the time Buttigieg spoke. But the gravity of the total seizure of U.S. commercial air traffic prompted many with deep experience defending against American adversaries to express new concerns.
“The airline national stoppage may or may not be a cyber attack,” retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, the former top officer for operations in Europe, wrote on Twitter with an accompanying picture showing the grounded flights, “but even if it is not, it certainly shows us what one could look like. Good wake up call.”
John Hultquist, a former U.S. intelligence analyst now with private intelligence firm Mandiant, expressed doubt about a “sinister cyber plot” as the root of Wednesday’s outage, but added a grave warning.
“If you're looking for cybersecurity angles I think it's this,” he wrote on Twitter. “We live in an increasingly complex, interdependent system that is prone to unforeseen consequences and cascading failures.”
Buttigieg on Wednesday focused particularly on the series of redundancies built into the system, like most that help protect all commercial traffic, and why those failed.
“We need to understand why, with all that redundancy, it still rose to the level that there had to be a ground stop lasting about an hour and a half and the kind of delays he saw,” he said.
Congress is currently in the midst of a five-year review of the FAA’s operations, and Buttigieg offered the need to review the systems, as well as other shortcomings that allowed for severe winter storms to strand hundreds of thousands of air passengers around the holidays.
The U.N Civil Aviation Organization had already begun an effort to overhaul international systems that allow for urgent communication with pilots to adopt clearer language and more reliable networks.
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