Authorities announced Wednesday that a man in his 40s has been taken into custody in southern England in connection with a purported hack that disrupted a number of airports across Europe in recent days, including London Heathrow.
The suspect was detained in West Sussex on Tuesday on suspicion of computer abuse charges, according to the UK's National Crime Agency.Conditional bail has been granted for the man's release. Head of the NCA's national cyber crime unit Paul Foster stated, "Although this arrest is a positive step, the investigation into this incident is in its early stages and remains ongoing."
"Cybercrime is a persistent global threat that continues to cause significant disruption to the UK"
Beginning late Friday, electronic system failures at Berlin, Brussels, and London airports slowed check in and forced airline employees to use backup laptops or handwrite boarding permits. Numerous other airports around Europe remained unaffected.
The malware impacted Collins Aerospace's software, which facilitates passenger check in, boarding card and bag tag printing, and luggage dispatch.
The American business reported a "cyber related disruption" to its software at "select" European airports on Saturday.
Although the identity of the perpetrators of the cyberattack was not immediately apparent, analysts speculated that hackers, criminal organisations, or state actors might be involved.
