COLORADO SPRINGS — The Colorado Springs Airport is among at least 13 airport websites targeted by a group of Russian hackers today.
According to the Associated Press, the attacks were from a Russian group that calls itself Killnet. The attacks shut down several U.S. airport websites, including the Colorado Springs and the Denver International Airport’s pages.
I spoke with several people traveling through the Colorado Springs Airport today. Some people said it was surprising to have a cyber-attack this close to home. Others were not so surprised.
"Having worked in IT in my former life, it's something where I think the technology in things like airports isn't up to date or they're struggling to stay current or fresh. I think that they're just not prepared for these types of things,” said Joshua Alcala, an airport customer.
Statistics show the number of cyber-attacks in America are rapidly increasing.
According to a Federal Bureau Investigation report, since 2020, the F-B-I has seen a 300 percent increasein reported cybercrimes.
"It just makes sense that as our technology is growing rapidly, so too are cyber criminals and cyber hackers so it's even more important as time goes on, to be more vigilant,” said Micki Cockrille, Director of Communications at the National Cybersecurity Center.
And while the reason for today's cyber-attacks are unknown, experts say cyber criminals are always fishing for important information.
"Cyber criminals are looking for weaknesses, vulnerabilities, figuring out how they can exploit and disrupt,” said Cockrille.
Experts say this can serve as a reminder to protect your data and to always be careful while visiting websites.
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