Hackers demand Seattle airport operator pay $6 million bitcoin ransom to retrieve their stolen documents
On September 19, an official at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport said Wednesday that hackers demanded $6 million worth of bitcoin from the airport operator in exchange for documents stolen in a cyberattack last month that were posted on the dark web this week. The official said the Port of Seattle, which owns and operates the airport, has decided not to pay.
The airport previously linked the attack to a ransomware gang called Rhysida, and now the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation, said Lance Lyttle, the airport's director of aviation. "On Monday, hackers posted a copy of eight files stolen from the Port system on the dark web and sought 100 bitcoins to buy the data."
Lyttle told a U.S. Senate committee that the airport appears to have stopped the attack, but the hackers were able to encrypt some data.