The websites for a number of major US airports were briefly taken offline today (Picture: AFP)
Pro-Russian hacktivists have reportedly taken responsibility for cyber attacks on multiple US airports.
Websites for cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, Phoenix and St Louis were briefly taken offline today after being flooded with traffic.
They were targeted after the pro-Russian hacking group known as ‘KillNet’ shared a list of sites and encouraged its followers to attack them.
The hacker group shared a still from The Hunger Games trilogy with text that read ‘Let The Hunger Games begin in USA 2022’ on its Telegram channel.
An earlier post included the websites of 46 airports, with KillNet calling for a ‘new state safari’.
‘To all hackers who participated in the liquidation of the United States of America, do not stop,’ they wrote later.
Most websites have since been brought back online (Picture: AP)
The group has been active since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine in February.
The attacks only affected the public-facing websites of the airports, which supply flight and services information.
It is believed operations were not impacted, and most have since been brought back online.
Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport said its website is ‘up and running after an incident early this morning that made it inaccessible to the public’.
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‘An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway,’ it said. ‘At no time were operations at the airport impacted.’
KillNet also claimed responsibility last week for attacks on a number of US state government websites.
The group has also taken aim at other countries opposing the war, including Italy, Romania, Moldova, Norway and Japan.
The hackers are also suspected of having made an attempt to block Eurovision’s website during Ukraine’s performance this year but this was blocked by the Italian state police.
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‘Let The Hunger Games begin in USA 2022’, the hackers wrote on Telegram.