Japan Airlines Faces Cyberattack Amid Peak Holiday Season: Share Market Impact

KAZI ABUL MONSUR, JOURNALIST#

Japan Airlines (JAL) experienced a cyberattack on Thursday, December 26, 2024, leading to delays in over 20 domestic flights. The attack began at 7:24 a.m., disrupting the airline’s internal and external network systems by overwhelming them with excessive data transmissions, a tactic characteristic of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.

In response, JAL temporarily suspended ticket sales for both domestic and international flights scheduled for that day. The airline’s technical team acted swiftly, shutting down an affected router to mitigate the issue. By late morning, the systems were restored, and ticket sales resumed. Importantly, JAL confirmed that flight safety was not compromised, and there were no leaks of customer information or damage from computer viruses.

This incident occurred during Japan’s busy year-end holiday season, a peak travel period when many people return to their hometowns for New Year’s celebrations. The timing of the attack exacerbated its impact, causing significant inconvenience to travelers.

The Japanese government has expressed concern over the country’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities, especially as it enhances defense capabilities and collaborates more closely with international partners. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated that the transport ministry has urged JAL to expedite system repairs and appropriately assist affected customers.

Other Japanese airlines, including ANA Holdings, Skymark, and Starflyer, reported no similar issues during this period. The incident underscores the growing need for robust cybersecurity measures in critical infrastructure sectors, particularly in aviation, to prevent such disruptions in the future.

According to Pakistan daily Dawn, Japan Airlines reported a cyberattack on Thursday that caused delays to domestic and international flights but later said it had found and addressed the cause. The airline, Japan’s second biggest after All Nippon Airways (ANA), said 24 domestic flights had been delayed by more than half an hour. Public broadcaster NHK said problems with the airline’s baggage check-in system had caused delays at several Japanese airports but no major disruption was reported.

“We identified and addressed the cause of the issue. We are checking the system recovery status,” Japan Airlines (JAL) said in a post on social media platform X. “Sales for both domestic and international flights departing today have been suspended. We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the post said.
A JAL spokeswoman told AFP earlier the company had been subjected to a cyberattack. Japanese media said it may have been a so-called DDoS attack aimed at overwhelming and disrupting a website or server.
Network disruption began at 7:24 am on Thursday (2224 GMT Wednesday), JAL said in a statement, adding that there was no impact on the safety of its operations. Then “at 8:56am, we temporarily isolated the router (a device for exchanging data between networks) that was causing the disruption”, it said.

Japan Airlines (JAL) experienced a cyberattack on Thursday, December 26, 2024, leading to delays in over 20 domestic flights. The attack began at 7:24 a.m., disrupting the airline’s internal and external network systems by overwhelming them with excessive data transmissions, a tactic characteristic of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.
In response, JAL temporarily suspended ticket sales for both domestic and international flights scheduled for that day. The airline’s technical team acted swiftly, shutting down an affected router to mitigate the issue. By late morning, the systems were restored, and ticket sales resumed. Importantly, JAL confirmed that flight safety was not compromised, and there were no leaks of customer information or damage from computer viruses.
This incident occurred during Japan’s busy year-end holiday season, a peak travel period when many people return to their hometowns for New Year’s celebrations. The timing of the attack exacerbated its impact, causing significant inconvenience to travelers.
The Japanese government has expressed concern over the country’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities, especially as it enhances defense capabilities and collaborates more closely with international partners. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated that the transport ministry has urged JAL to expedite system repairs and appropriately assist affected customers.
Other Japanese airlines, including ANA Holdings, Skymark, and Starflyer, reported no similar issues during this period. The incident underscores the growing need for robust cybersecurity measures in critical infrastructure sectors, particularly in aviation, to prevent such disruptions in the future.

JAL shares fell as much as 2.5 per cent in morning trade after the news emerged, before recovering slightly. The airline is just the latest Japanese firm to be hit by a cyberattack.Japan’s space agency JAXA was targeted in 2023, although no sensitive information about rockets or satellites was accessed.The same year one of Japan’s busiest ports was hit by a ransomware attack blamed on the Russia-based Lockbit group. In 2022, a cyberattack at a Toyota supplier forced the top-selling automaker to halt operations at domestic plants.

More recently, the popular Japanese video-sharing website Niconico came under a large cyberattack in June. Separately, a transport ministry committee tasked with probing a fatal January 2024 collision involving a JAL passenger jet released an interim report on Wednesday blaming human error for the incident that killed five people.

The collision at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport was with a coast guard plane carrying six crew members — of whom five were killed — that was on mission to deliver relief supplies to a quake-hit central region of Japan.

According to the report, the smaller plane’s pilot mistook an air traffic control officer’s instructions to mean authorisation had been given to enter the runway.The traffic controller failed to notice the plane had intruded into the runway, oblivious even to an alarm system warning against its presence.

All 379 people on board the JAL Airbus escaped just before the aircraft was engulfed in flames.

The incident occurred during Japan’s busy year-end holiday season, causing significant inconvenience to travelers. The Japanese government has expressed concern over the country’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities, especially as it enhances defense capabilities and collaborates more closely with international partners.

Other Japanese airlines, including ANA Holdings, reported no similar issues during this period. The incident underscores the growing need for robust cybersecurity measures in critical infrastructure sectors, particularly in aviation, to prevent such disruptions in the future.

As of December 26, 2024, Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (TYO: 9201) is trading at ¥2,461 per share on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
This price is approximately 16.86% above the 52-week low of ¥2,088, which was recorded on August 5, 2024. The company’s market capitalization stands at around ¥1.08 trillion. In terms of valuation, Japan Airlines has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.5x, a price-to-book (P/B) ratio of 1.2x, and a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 0.6x. The stock has experienced some volatility, with a 52-week range between ¥2,088 and ¥2,956. Analyst ratings for Japan Airlines vary, with some maintaining an ‘overweight’ stance and setting price targets around ¥3,400. It’s important to note that the recent cyberattack on December 26, 2024, which caused delays in over 20 domestic flights, may influence investor sentiment and could impact the stock’s performance in the short term.
Investors should monitor the situation closely and consider the potential implications of such incidents on the company’s operations and financial health.##REUTERS/AP NEWS/DAWN