Budget carrier SpiceJet faced a ransomware attack on Tuesday night, due to which morning flight departures were impacted.
The airline said said that the situation has been rectified and flights are operating normally now.
Ransomware is a type of malware attack in which the attacker locks and encrypts the victim’s data, important files and then demands a payment to unlock and decrypt the data.
This type of attack takes advantage of human, system, network, and software vulnerabilities to infect the victim’s device—which can be a computer, printer, smartphone, wearable, point-of-sale (POS) terminal, or other endpoint.
Attacks like this are typically carried out by criminal organisations motivated by profit, rather than state-based actors.
SpiceJet, a low cost airline, currently operates a fleet of more than 90 aircraft, and is the second largest airline in the country by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2019, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
