File photo of SeaTac Airport in Seattle
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
The Port of Seattle and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport shared over the weekend that they were experiencing an “internet and web systems outage, which is impacting some systems at the airport.”
The cause of the incident is not yet public but the airport suggested it could be a cyberattack.
“Earlier this morning the Port of Seattle experienced certain system outages indicating a possible cyberattack. The Port isolated critical systems and is in the process of working to restore full service and do not have an estimated time for return,” posted Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on its X account on August 25.
The airport urged flyers to check in with their airline partners and arrive early because of the ongoing incident.
(Unravel the complexities of our digital world on The Interface podcast, where business leaders and scientists share insights that shape tomorrow’s innovation. The Interface is also available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.)
It further asked travellers to use their mobile boarding pass for an easier experience, and also get their checked baggage through the airline apps.
“Port teams continue to make progress on returning systems to normal operations, but there is not an estimated time for return,” posted the airport on X about 10 hours ago.
The Port of Seattle Maritime Facilities phone systems were also affected by the outage, according to the company’s X post.
The web and internet outage reminded many of July’s CrowdStrike IT outage that impacted millions of Microsoft devices around the world, leaving thousands of flyers stranded in airports as flights were disrupted globally and airports switched to manual check-in processes.
However, the degree of the latest IT outage is not yet fully known. The perpetrators behind the alleged cyberattack have also not been named.
