Flight Suspensions in US Due to File Corruption... FAA States "No Evidence of Hacking"

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] The cause of the temporary suspension of aircraft operations across the United States on the morning of the 11th (local time) was revealed to be a corrupted file. Authorities confirmed there were no signs of hacking or cyberattacks.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated on Twitter that day, "We are continuing to thoroughly review the NOTAM system, which experienced a computer malfunction," adding, "Initial work tracking this outage identified a corrupted database file." NOTAM is a system that provides real-time essential flight safety information to pilots and others in the aviation field.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Major foreign media also reported, citing anonymous sources, that a single corrupted digital file caused the incident. FAA officials reportedly told members of the U.S. Congress that the corrupted digital file affected both the main system and the backup system.

The FAA emphasized, "At this time, there is no evidence of a cyberattack," and added, "We are diligently working to pinpoint the exact cause of this issue and to take all necessary measures to prevent this type of disruption from happening again." Earlier, the White House also drew a line, stating there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point. However, they plan to consider all possibilities during the investigation.

Earlier that day, the FAA issued a suspension order for all domestic flights due to a computer network malfunction. Later, just before 9 a.m. Eastern Time, the suspension order was lifted, and flight operations were confirmed to be gradually resuming.

Despite the resumption of operations, delays and cancellations continued in various locations. According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, more than 4,300 flights were delayed nationwide until just after 9 a.m. that day. Additionally, by the afternoon, approximately 9,585 flights were delayed and 1,321 flights were canceled.

Jeff Freeman, president of the U.S. Travel Association, likened the incident to a "disaster" in a statement and said, "Significant improvements to the U.S. transportation network are urgently needed." There are also criticisms that the reliance on the NOTAM system is too high.