Attempted hijack on El Al's flight radio foiled

An El Al flight radio was hijacked in a cyberattack over Somalian airspace, which would cause the aircraft to deviate away from its flight path. Fortunately, the pilots foiled the attempt.

By: Haotian

Published on: 19 February 2024, 2.56pm, GMT +8

The flight was operating from Bangkok to Tel Aviv. Photo: El Al International

An El Al flight, LY82, which took off on the night of 17 February 2024 from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel was hijacked by cyber attackers while over Somali, as reported by The Jerusalem Post in an article.

According to sources, this is the second time this type of cyberattack has happened in the past week. The other flight was an El Al flight LY88 operating from Phuket International Airport to Ben Gurion International Airport. The Jerusalem Post said that the foiled attack took place in an area where the Iran-backed Houthis are known to be active. However, sources in Somalia stated that a group within the self-declared state of Somaliland, which recently signed an agreement with Ethiopia, is suspected of being responsible for the thwarted attack.

Amidst the attack, the flight crew was given instructions that veered from their original flight plan. Thankfully, the alert pilots sensed something awry and acted swiftly, ignoring the instructions and switching promptly to an alternate communication channel. Additionally, they cross-referenced the data with other air traffic controllers in the airspace, confirming their suspicions of being misled by the unknown radio channel.

According to a source in El Al as reported by The Jerusalem Post:

"In Somalia, there have been communication interruptions all week, not only for El Al planes, and the official authorities have issued instructions to all pilots that as soon as this happens with a certain frequency, not to listen to the instructions and to switch to another communication method. Our pilots are instructed on how to deal with this incident, such as the problematic frequency, and how to handle the flight professionally when it happens."