US says airspace now 'opened up,' no cyberattack
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States lifted a ground stop at its airports that lasted several hours, with top officials attributing the disruption to outdated equipment rather than a cyberattack or a widespread Microsoft outage. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that US airspace was now open during a late-night briefing at the White House, but warned that the travel chaos would take time to clear.
The issue arose a day after the Department of Transportation and the White House requested $30 billion from Congress to upgrade and modernize the US Air Traffic Control System. Duffy explained that the old hardware overloaded with data led to the switches and routers going down. Despite concerns about cybersecurity, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin dismissed any speculation of a coordinated cyber assault on the United States or a connection to the Microsoft outage.
He insisted it was safe for Americans to fly, clarifying that there was no evidence of a cyber attack. The ground stop, only the second in US airspace since the 9/11 attacks, was expected to impact nearly 6,000 flights, including international routes, with recovery likely to take some time.
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