US airspace now ‘opened up’, no cyberattack
WASHINGTON - The United States on Friday lifted an hours-long ground stop at the nation’s airports, with top officials explaining that the disruption was due to old equipment and not a cyberattack or sweeping Microsoft outage.
On Friday, the United States lifted a ground stop at its airports that lasted several hours, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The disruption was not caused by a cyberattack or a widespread Microsoft outage, officials stated. Duffy confirmed that US airspace was now "opened up" during a late-night briefing at the White House, though he warned the travel chaos would take time to resolve. At 8:15 PM Eastern Time, officials declared the airspace open, but warned it would be slow for flights to resume.
The issue arose due to outdated equipment in the US Air Traffic Control System, Duffy explained. He described the system as "incredibly old," noting that switches and routers overloaded with data crashed. When asked if Americans should be concerned, Duffy urged Congress to fund a $30 billion upgrade and modernization of the system.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin dismissed rumors of a coordinated cyber assault on the United States or any connection to the global Microsoft outage. He emphasized that no cyber attack had occurred and that security agencies were still investigating the incident, ruling out any threats at this time. Despite the events, both officials defended President Donald Trump, who had yet to comment on the air stoppage hours after it began.
Written by urgent.news from Bangkok Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
