The Allied Pilots Association (APA) is the labor union representing American Airlines pilots. The following is a cybersecurity update on their site dated November 2:
On October 30, we experienced a cybersecurity incident. Upon discovery of the incident, we immediately took steps to secure our network. Our IT team, with the support of outside experts, continues to work nonstop to restore our systems. We are pleased to report that our restoration efforts are progressing, and we will soon be able to begin to bring back some of our online services. Initially, this will include the majority of our Web 2.0 product. Once the initial restoration is in place, we will continue to restore additional services over the coming hours and days, placing a priority on pilot-facing products and tools. We are working diligently to be fully operational as soon as possible, while keeping the security of our systems front and center.
Once up, the APA website will contain a Service Restoration dashboard to provide additional information on our restoration efforts.
Concurrent with our restoration efforts, we launched an investigation, under the guidance of third-party cybersecurity experts, to determine the scope of this incident. While the investigation is ongoing, we can share that we have determined the incident was due to ransomware and that certain systems were encrypted. As a result, the restoration of those systems has entailed a methodical and time-consuming process for our IT team and outside experts.
As we work to recover from backups, we are also continuing to assess potential impacts to data, including member data. Investigations of this nature often take time to complete. We appreciate your patience as we work diligently to complete the investigation so that we can provide you with accurate information.
We understand that you may have questions about this incident. Please be aware that we will continue to provide additional updates via text and/or email as we have information to share.
Thank you for your continued understanding as we work to complete our restoration and investigation.
APA Communications
As of yesterday, the APA tweeted, “Thank you for your patience during our IT recovery efforts. The majority of our functionality has been restored, and you can log into http://AlliedPilots.org. Please be prepared to change your http://AlliedPilots.org password to access the site.”
