SEA Airport still reeling after suspected cyberattack on Port of Seattle

SEATAC, Wash. — A suspected cyber-attack is still stifling some services at SEA Airport, and many passengers are still feeling the pain.

Officials say only four flights have been canceled due to the presumed cyberattack. The attack has shut down operations directly tied to the Port of Seattle’s web-based system, forcing several airlines to resort to writing everything by hand.

Internationally based airlines are being affected. But, five domestic carriers and their passengers are struggling, too.

In fact, you can see that impact right here. This reader board would normally have information about flight arrivals and departures. But it is black.

And that is not all.

They are resorting to old-fashioned people-power at SEA Airport, a day after a suspected cyberattack shut down the Port of Seattle’s entire web-based system.

Now the airport is relying on green-clad volunteers to do the work instead.

This may be the most visible result of a cyberattack Port officials say they discovered Saturday morning. This, and the black reader boards overhead.

At a late afternoon news conference, the man who runs SEA Airport said they had been working around the clock to resolve the crisis.

Lance Lyttle was asked if they had any idea what the cyberattackers were after.

“So, we don’t know specifically what anyone might be after,” said Lyttle, SEA Managing Director for Aviation. “We’re still conducting active investigations going on right now. What we’re focusing on is getting the systems actually impacted back up and running so we can get passengers and airlines back to normal.”

That is proving a challenge for passengers on several international and domestic carriers that are directly tied to the Port’s web system.

It has forced workers at Frontier Airlines to write baggage tickets by hand and to require passengers to deliver their own bags to the airline. But first, they have to go through the TSA, whose strict rules about what is allowed are still in force.

None of this is a surprise here.

“No,” said Fred Hiles, a Frontier passenger headed home to Wisconsin. “They want you to get all of your information out there for everybody to look at. So, how could anybody be surprised?”

The good news is most airlines are not affected by the attack. They use their own, independent systems.

But more bad news: airport officials have no idea when their system will be back up and running.

They are promising to hold another news conference tomorrow. So, stay tuned.

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