The airport display board shows a notice of flight delays due to a system malfunction. On the morning of the 26th, at approximately 7:25 AM, Japan Airlines’ network system connecting internal and external company operations fell victim to a cyber attack. As a result, over 60 domestic flights, including those connecting Tokyo and Hokkaido, were delayed for up to an hour and 30 minutes, and the sales of today’s flight tickets were halted.
[Passenger: I had a flight scheduled to depart before 4 PM, but I was informed it would be delayed by 40 minutes. I thought I would arrive quickly…]
Applications used for flight ticket reservations and seat assignments also stopped functioning, causing significant concern for travelers heading home for the year-end and New Year holidays.
[Traveler: It was working last night, but not since this morning. I’m worried since my flight leaves in 2 hours.]
The delay in domestic flight departures also affected the delivery of air mail and packages. Japan Airlines announced that they had restored all systems and resumed flight ticket sales by around 2:20 PM, approximately seven hours after the issue arose.
They explained that a cyber attack had disrupted the passenger baggage management system and that they had temporarily blocked the suspected network device before beginning recovery operations. They also confirmed that there was no breach of customer information or virus damage and reported the incident to the police for investigation.
Japanese police are investigating the incident, considering the possibility of a DDoS attack, which might have deliberately increased internet traffic to disrupt the network.