The Port of Seattle has confirmed that a targeted cyberattack caused the weekend’s IT outage and subsequent travel disruption.
It impacted the Port of Seattle and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with air travelers mainly affected.
No News of Any Cruise Ship Operations Impacted
It was a busy day with several ships on turnarounds in Seattle over the weekend, but initially, there were no reports of disruption to checking cruise guests in. However, the issue was getting to and from the port pre- and post-cruise, with hundreds of flights delayed at Sea-Tac Airport.
| “We are conducting a thorough investigation with assistance of outside experts We have contacted and are working closely with federal partners, including TSA and Customs and Border Protection,” said Lance Lyttle, Aviation Managing Director. |
The TSA said its operations were working fine, with no impact to passenger security screening. However, the flight delays were caused by non-responsive check-in systems. This led to time-consuming manual check-in processing, which resulted in hours-long lines for some passengers on Sunday.
Hundreds of Flights Delayed
According to flight tracking site FlightAware, 460 flights were delayed on Sunday, with five cancellations. Over 70,000 passengers were booked on flights yesterday. The outage was also affecting baggage systems.
“We are starting to see some impacts with the Port of Seattle’s baggage sorting system, so we are proactively warning guests who are flying out of Seattle to avoid checking a bag if possible,” Alaska Airlines said.
The cyberattack began impacting Port of Seattle operations on Saturday morning, knocking out internet access. As of Monday morning, the Port of Seattle public website remains offline.
Port Authority officials still do not know why they were targeted in the cyberattack and what it was trying to achieve.
Earlier this year, the Biden Administration issued an executive order giving the US Coast Guard more powers to respond to cybersecurity incidents. This came after the Department of Homeland Security warned that ports are increasingly targeted in cyberattacks.
