Cyberattack targets Japan Airlines
Tokyo, Dec 26: Japan Airlines said it was hit by a cyberattack Thursday, causing delays to more than 20 domestic flights but the carrier said it was able to stop the onslaught and restore its systems hours later. There was no impact on flight safety, it said. JAL said the problem started Thursday morning when the company’s network connecting internal and external systems began malfunctioning. The airline said it was able to identify the cause as an attack intended to overwhelm the network system with massive transmissions of data. Such attacks flood a system or network with traffic until the target cannot respond or crashes. The attack did not involve a virus or cause any customer data leaks, JAL said. It said that as of late morning, the cyberattack had delayed 24 domestic flights for more than 30 minutes. Experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the vulnerability of Japan’s cybersecurity, especially as the country steps up its defence capabilities and works more closely with the US with much tighter cyber defences. (PTI)
Iraq & Syria officials talk border security
Damascus/Baghdad, Dec 26: Syria’s interim authorities met here with visiting Iraqi intelligence chief Hamid al-Shatri on Thursday, according to an official statement carried by Syrian state media outlets. Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Syria’s de facto governing group and commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, alongside Syria’s interim Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani and newly-appointed intelligence chief Anas Khattab attended the meeting with an Iraqi delegation headed by al-Shatri. The official Iraqi News Agency, citing Iraqi government spokesman Basim al-Awadi, reported that al-Shatri engaged in discussions with the new Syrian leadership on the situation in Syria and the necessary measures for ensuring security and stability along their shared borders. (IANS)