NATS Air Traffic Control Failure Cost UK Economy £33m
The Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) claimed in a report published on November 4 that the cost to the UK economy was around £33m ($44m), with 70 domestic organizations affected.
The Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) claimed in a report published on November 4 that the cost to the UK economy was around £33m ($44m), with 70 domestic organizations affected.
However, it may have reached as high as £42m ($56.6m), according to the CMC’s modelled range, which reflects the cost to UK airlines, airports, ground operations and tour operators of 1152 flight cancellations, alongside significant delays and diversions.
If the impact on overseas airlines is included, the cost may have reached as high as £76m ($102.4m) based on 1800 cancelled flights.
NATS is already mandated by the existing NIS Regulations 2018 to meet specific security and resilience obligations, and there’s nothing in the new Cyber Security and Resilience Bill that would help to prevent a similar incident in the future, the CMC claimed.
However, the new regime may improve how incidents are reported and overseen, it noted; cMC technical committee chair, Ciaran Martin said: The CMC warned that the risk of outages stemming from unidentified software defects
The CMC estimated that 450,000 passengers were affected by cancellations or delays of more than two hours.
Although not the result of a malicious attack, the incident highlights the ongoing challenge of improving business and IT resilience in critical sectors.
Following the loss of an automated system link at 1.32pm, NATS declared a major incident and moved to manual fallback procedures, including major traffic restrictions.
Although the flight data system was restored within three-and-a-half hours, flight restrictions weren’t lifted until the evening and the impact on travellers lasted much longer.
What happened
The Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) claimed in a report published on November 4 that the cost to the UK economy was around £33m ($44m), with 70 domestic organizations affected.
However, it may have reached as high as £42m ($56.6m), according to the CMC’s modelled range, which reflects the cost to UK airlines, airports, ground operations and tour operators of 1152 flight cancellations, alongside significant delays and diversions.
If the impact on overseas airlines is included, the cost may have reached as high as £76m ($102.4m) based on 1800 cancelled flights.
What changed
NATS is already mandated by the existing NIS Regulations 2018 to meet specific security and resilience obligations, and there’s nothing in the new Cyber Security and Resilience Bill that would help to prevent a similar incident in the future, the CMC claimed.
However, the new regime may improve how incidents are reported and overseen, it noted; cMC technical committee chair, Ciaran Martin said: The CMC warned that the risk of outages stemming from unidentified software defects
Who is affected
The CMC estimated that 450,000 passengers were affected by cancellations or delays of more than two hours.
Although not the result of a malicious attack, the incident highlights the ongoing challenge of improving business and IT resilience in critical sectors.
Why it matters
Following the loss of an automated system link at 1.32pm, NATS declared a major incident and moved to manual fallback procedures, including major traffic restrictions.
Although the flight data system was restored within three-and-a-half hours, flight restrictions weren’t lifted until the evening and the impact on travellers lasted much longer.
Attribution
Infosecurity Magazine: The Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) claimed in a report published on November 4 that the cost to the UK economy was around £33m ($44m), with 70 domestic organizations affected.