In a harrowing incident, an El Al Dreamliner, en route from Phuket International Airport (HKT) in Thailand to Tel Aviv, Israel, faced a potential security breach as fake Somali air traffic controllers attempted a cyber terror attack on Sunday.
According to eturbonews.com, Cyber terrorists claiming to be air traffic controllers were able to bring the aircraft off course and dangerously close to an area over Somalia where the Iran-backed Houthis are active. Some reports say that Somaliland and not Somalia were responsible for the thwarted attack.
Good training and quick thinking by El Al pilots foiled this cyberattack. The crew was able to bring the aircraft back on course to Tel Aviv.
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This was the second time an incident had occurred in the past week.
While under attack, the flight crew received instructions deviating from their planned route.
Thankfully, the astute pilots sensed something was amiss and chose to disregard the given instructions. They promptly adopted an alternative communication method, cross-referencing the data with other air traffic controllers to confirm their suspicions of being misled.
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The incident was regarded as highly grave, carrying the potential for sabotage, diversion into perilous zones, and even the emergence of a kidnapping scenario.
Throughout the entire week in Somalia, there have been disruptions in communication. This is not limited to just El Al planes. The authorities have given instructions to all pilots that if these interruptions occur frequently, they should disregard the instructions given and switch to an alternative method of communication.
El Al flight LY88, operated by a 2019 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with registration 4X-EDJ and MSN 65086, departed Phuket at 23:36 on Saturday, February 17, 2024, according to flight tracking data from Flightradar24.com. Despite a delay of nearly one hour, the Dreamliner arrived in Tel Aviv at 04:52 on Sunday, just 17 minutes behind schedule, completing the journey in 10 hours and 26 minutes.
According to an El Al representative, the pilots of El Al were contacted by the hostile elements on two occasions. The first instance was during the Phuket to Ben Gurion flight, while the second occurred during a flight to Bangkok. El Al emphasized this information in a statement.
