Canadian airline WestJet on Friday fell victim to a cyberattack that disrupted certain internal systems and impacted access to the company’s application and website.
“WestJet is aware of a cybersecurity incident involving internal systems and the WestJet app, which has restricted access for several users,” the country’s second-largest airline said on Friday.
The company said it was investigating the incident together with law enforcement and Transport Canada, and working on limiting the attack’s impact on its software and services.
“We are expediting efforts to maintain the safety of our operation and safeguard sensitive data and personal information for both our guests and employees, and we apologize to all guests for any disruption to their access to WestJet’s services,” the company said.
In a Saturday update, WestJet said its operations were not impacted by the attack, and that it was working on determining the extent of the incident. On Sunday, it announced that user access to the WestJet application and website were restored, but warned that interruptions would still occur.
“As of this morning, WestJet continues to make progress on safeguarding our digital environment and supporting the specialized teams working to resolve this situation,” it said.
The airline said it would continue to provide regular updates on the situation, but did not share details on the type of attack it fell victim to, nor did it say if any data was stolen. It is unclear if the disruption was caused by ransomware.
SecurityWeek has emailed WestJet for additional information on the incident and on its restoration efforts and will update this article if the company responds.
Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, WestJet operates scheduled, charter, and cargo services. It is the second-largest Canadian airline and the eighth-largest in North America, in terms of flight frequency.
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