Delays, outages continue after SEA Airport cyber attack

SeaTac Airport internet outage continues after cyberattack

SeaTac Airport is still experiencing delays after this weekend's cyberattack.

SEATAC, Wash. - The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is still experiencing delays and outages after a cyberattack over the weekend.

The disruption has led to several flight cancelations and numerous delays, leaving both travelers and officials grappling with the ongoing fallout.

Kalpen Patel, who was traveling home to Sydney after attending a wedding in Seattle, shared his experience dealing with the delays.

"We got here about three and a half hours early," Patel explained. "We just had a wicked time here. It's been really great. Love, love the people here."

However, Patel expressed anxiety about missing his connecting flight, which could result in a lengthy delay. "I've been anxious about it, just kind of going, 'I don't want to miss this flight,' then we don't get another flight until tomorrow," Patel said.

The cyberattack has left passengers navigating a host of challenges, from non-functioning flight information displays to concerns about baggage handling.

"I kept checking, you know, every second like, 'Oh, I hope I'm not here any longer,'" said Trenton Braswell, who is traveling to Denver.

Airport officials held a press conference on Monday to address the situation. Officials said they have no estimated time for full restoration. "We're still working to restore full service with the assistance of industry experts and partners, but there's currently no estimated time of return," said Perry Cooper, a spokesperson for Sea-Tac. Cooper added that some airlines, including Frontier, Sun Country, and Spirit, as well as several international carriers, were among the most affected.

The cyberattack has also impacted the airport’s baggage handling system, which spans over 10 miles of conveyor belts.

"What is occurring is that they can go to a certain point, but at that point, they can't be separated to different parts of the airport where they’re loaded onto their specific aircraft," Cooper explained. This has led to delays in baggage handling, with agents stepping in to assist passengers with manual check-ins.

While TSA checkpoints have been running smoothly, using their own network, the airport has advised travelers to pack lightly, arrive early, and have boarding documents either in hand or on their phones, as Wi-Fi at the airport is down.

Cooper noted that the airport became aware of the cyberattack on Saturday morning when they detected "nefarious characters" on their system.

"We actually turned off our entire system to avoid anything further," said Cooper.

As of Monday afternoon, the airport had recorded 177 delays and seven cancellations, according to FlightAware.

The investigation into the cyberattack is ongoing, with Sea-Tac working with federal partners to determine what information, if any, was compromised. "As far as I know, we have not had anything [compromised] that we are aware of, but that is part of our investigation," Cooper said.

In response to the cyber incident, the Port of Seattle has disabled access to its internal systems and website, and instructed employees not to log in or click on any suspicious links or pop-ups.

"We're still investigating what exactly happened, how it occurred, and how to prevent it in the future," Cooper said. "We hope to learn more as the investigation continues."

Despite the disruptions, cruise ship operations at the Port of Seattle are continuing as normal, though phone systems at maritime facilities are down as part of the outage.

Cybersecurity experts, like Corey Nachreiner from WatchGuard, warned that such attacks might not always be targeted.

"They're not really going after these organizations in a super-targeted fashion all the time, but when they opportunistically find that one of their affiliates has hacked something, then they spend a lot of time learning about the network, and they stage the ransomware, of course, so that it hits many devices at once," Nachreiner explained.

As Memorial Day approaches, airport officials are urging travelers to be prepared for potential delays and disruptions. Sea-Tac is also working with federal partners to figure out what those "nefarious characters" had access to and what they wanted.

For now, several airport services, including the SEA Visitor Pass and Lost and Found, are currently unavailable due to the outage.

"Our priority continues to be assisting travelers impacted by this situation," Cooper said.