The arrivals hall at Beirut International Airport. (Credit: João Sousa/Photo archives)
Five days after the cyber attack on Beirut International Airport (BIA), "20 percent of the damage" remains to be repaired, the outgoing Minister of Transport and Public Works, Ali Hamiyeh, told L'Orient-Le Jour. "Everything will be sorted out on Monday," he said.
On Sunday evening, BIA was the victim of a cyber attack that caused the baggage carousels to malfunction and a message criticizing Hezbollah to be displayed on the screens showing flight details.
A source at Middle East Airlines (MEA), the national airline, told us that day that the Flight Information Display System (FIDS) network, which displays flight information inside the airport, had been hacked. The attack had also caused a breakdown in the BHS baggage inspection system.
As a result of the cyberattack, the airport's screens stopped working, displaying a message criticizing Hezbollah instead of flight schedules, against the backdrop of Israeli fire on Gaza and southern Lebanon.
"The fault has been repaired. There are only 20 percent of malfunctions left, but by Monday everything will be fixed," explained the outgoing minister, who added that BIA is not the first airport to have fallen victim to piracy.
"We still have to repair a quarter of the baggage carousels. We have placed an overseas order for three PLCs [a programmable machine that performs repetitive tasks at high speed and with precision]. They will arrive on Monday and be installed," continued Hamiyeh.
In the face of this cyberattack, Hamiyeh stressed that he is working on an "upgrade of computer systems."
"We're going to ask the government for funding," he said. "We're also going to ask the security services for recommendations, but also a company with expertise in the field, as is the case in other countries. But for that, we need funding," he explained.
He regretted that the draft budget for 2024 includes "less than $10,000 for airport cybersecurity," pointing out that the BIA is "one of the public establishments that generate fresh dollar revenues for the state."
"All of these revenues are transferred to the treasury. We cannot spend these revenues as we please and budget for maintenance," he said.
At a parliament meeting on Friday, the head of the outgoing government, Najib Mikati, had asked his ministers "to check with their ministries on the security of their computers and to review security procedures," according to a press release from the Council Presidency.
This article was originally published by L'Orient-Le Jour.