Senator Maria Cantwell calls Senate hearing to investigate cyberattacks on airports

LOS ANGELES — U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell convened a panel on Wednesday to address cybersecurity threats to airports such as Sea-Tac International Airport last month.

Cantwell chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The panel included experts such as Lance Lyttle, the aviation director of Sea-Tac International Airport.

On August 24, Internet, phone, email and other systems were disrupted in Sea-Tac. The Port of Seattle confirmed that the incident was a “ransomware” attack by the criminal organization Rhysida.

The FBI is assisting with the criminal investigation into the attack, Lyttle said.

“Once we identified unauthorized cyber activity, we quickly isolated critical systems. While our efforts to stop the attack appeared to be successful, the threat actor was able to encrypt some of our computer systems and copy some data,” Lyttle said at the Senate hearing.

WATCH |Thousands of travelers and airport operations impacted by cyberattack on Port of Seattle

The operations of several airports were disrupted for over a week.

At the Senate hearing, Lyttle said Rhysida threatened to publish the information stolen on the dark web unless they paid them $6 million in bitcoins.

He said the airport would contact anyone whose personal information may have been stolen.

“The Port of Seattle has no intention of paying any money to the perpetrators behind the cyberattack on our network,” said Steve Metruck, CEO of the Port of Seattle.

WATCH | How cyberattacks like the apparently massive hacker attack on SEA airport happen

Cantwell recounted her own experience during the cyberattack at Sea-Tac, telling how she tried to catch a flight but had trouble accessing her gate information.

“Although most systems are now back online three weeks later, the airport website and some internal personnel functions are still unavailable today,” Cantwell said.

Although flight operations were able to continue, the attack caused disruptions in ticket sales, check-in machines and baggage handling. Passengers on smaller airlines had to use paper boarding passes.

Cantwell said the purpose of the hearing was to find out what more needs to be done to protect air traffic and safety.

The mayor of Columbus, Ohio, said last month that Rhysida was behind a data theft in city systems. The mayor downplayed the value of the stolen data and said the city never received a ransom demand.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.