SA Weather Service aviation website back online after cyberattack

The SA Weather Service (Saws) aviation website is back online after a cyberattack in January paralysed its information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure.

On Friday the weather service confirmed cybersecurity and ICT experts working to restore the compromised ICT systems brought the aviation website back online for the first time since the attack.

Saws spokesperson Hannelee Doubell said this has enabled the aviation industry to access limited critical services, including products such as international significant weather charts, wind charts, domestic and international flight documentation, research products and radar images via the website. 

The service's CEO Ishaam Abader said stakeholders’ understanding has been the motivation for the entity’s cybersecurity and ICT expert team to work around the clock to reverse the effects of the attack.

“We are in the early stages of recovery. It took other organisations that fell victim to this kind of crime anything from weeks to months or more to recover fully. We hope to be back on our feet sooner,” Abader said.

He said the cyberattack was the latest in a series of similar incidents that reportedly rocked several public and private institutions in the past five years.

Doubell said the rest of products, such as domestic significant weather charts, atmospheric pressure charts and airman’s reports, are undergoing functionality tests and will be available within the shortest possible time. 

She said the service's aviation weather centre at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg continues to rely on alternative means to disseminate regular aeronautical weather information and updates to the aviation community.

“Though the main website and hub of weather and climate data is also back online, weather forecasts are not yet accessible on the site. Users will only be able to access severe weather warnings, among other things, on the platform. It must be noted the warnings expire on the end of their validity periods and will then disappear from the site,” she said.

She said the marine portal and WeatherSMART app remain offline. “However, the public and media houses can access daily rainfall, temperatures and severe weather information via social media platforms and e-mail, respectively.

“The restoration of the main and aviation websites comes on the back of several other milestones, including the reopening of the e-mail system and internet service, which were cut off in the wake of the attack in a bid to contain the spread of the malicious software the cybercriminals used during the attack. These were in addition to the reinforcement of cybersecurity measures to better detect and fend off threats that use e-mail and the internet as entry points.”

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