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Cyberattack Chaos: Flights Halted at LAX & European Airports
Sep 30, 2025
A cyberattack in Europe caused flight delays and cancellations, impacting airports worldwide. Was Russia behind it? Experts weigh in on potential motives, from sending a message about frozen assets to testing vulnerabilities in global systems. #cyberattack #flights #Russia #Europe #airportsecurity
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0:00
Operations slowly are returning to
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normal. Pretty sunset on this uh first
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day of fall. Uh this is after a cyber
0:08
attack in Europe. Delayed and canceled
0:10
flights that then affected flights here.
0:13
More than 1500 delayed flights. 138
0:16
canceled flights at LAX. The cyber
0:18
attack crippled London, Heathro,
0:20
Brussels, Berlin, and Dublin. Hackers
0:23
taking advantage of a weakness in the
0:25
system. uh to check passengers into
0:28
their flights. Susan Heroso joins us now
0:30
with one theory on which country might
0:32
be involved. A culprit, huh?
0:34
Yes, indeed. Well, for those of us who
0:36
are used to a quick scan of a boarding
0:38
pass to get onto a plane. Well, now
0:40
imagine the airline needs to find you on
0:42
a long paper list of passengers. That's
0:45
what happened over the weekend in Europe
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with a ripple effect all the way to
0:49
airports in the US. Lines were long,
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temper short in Brussels. A cyber attack
0:55
on the system that is used to check in
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passengers meant a slowdown so dramatic
1:00
passengers either missed flights or the
1:02
flights themselves were delayed or
1:04
cancelled.
1:05
The European Union has come out and said
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there they they haven't said absolutely
1:09
they know who's doing it but they are
1:11
looking at the Russians. National
1:13
security expert Hal Keer believes it's
1:15
no coincidence Belgium was on the list
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of airports targeted
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where 220 billion of the $300 billion of
1:23
of sea or frozen Russian assets is is
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held making a message clear to Belgium
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do not take that money and use it to
1:32
support Ukraine
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in addition to Brussels also hit London
1:36
Heathro Europe's busiest airport Berlin
1:39
and Dublin the company that makes the
1:42
check-in Program Muse reports it's in
1:44
the final stages of completing updates
1:46
to return the system to full
1:48
functionality. If Russia is truly to
1:51
blame, why not take credit? So, they do
1:53
this attack, they make a statement,
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everyone knows who's behind it, but they
1:58
won't publicly claim credit for it.
2:00
Therefore, it gives us the ability not
2:02
to have to use our cyber warfare tools
2:05
in response to what they did.
2:08
So, Russia isn't the only theory on
2:09
who's to blame. A cyber security expert
2:11
in England believes the hack to the
2:13
handful of airports in Europe is really
2:16
a warning. Now imagine a cyber attack
2:18
that cripples every airport.
2:20
Is there any way for cyber security
2:23
experts to definitively identify who's
2:26
responsible?
2:26
Oh, that's a good question that I do not
2:28
know the absolute answer to, but again,
2:31
the EU is suggesting it could be Russia
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or some other party that is working on
2:37
behalf of Russia. And imagine the chaos
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if you imagine what it's like to be
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stuck in an airport or have a canceled
2:44
flight. That all is going to lead to
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sort of a you know a place where perhaps
2:49
you don't trust
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basic systems anymore like the airport,
2:53
like the government. So there might be
2:54
ulterior motives aside from that message
2:57
about don't use the funds to support
3:00
Ukraine.
3:00
Right. Okay. Susan Harrisona.
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