Grounded by a supplier
Oct 15th, 2025 by Jesper Kråkhede
A few weeks ago, travellers at several of Europe´s largest airports had their check-in done by hand. The airports hadn´t been attacked directly. The shared system that many airlines use for check-in, boarding and baggage had been hit by ransomware at its supplier. At one airport it took more than two weeks before the central system was back.
It is the same pattern again. A shared platform, used by many organisations, becomes a single point of failure for all of them at once.
What can you do technically when you depend on a shared platform like that? Know which of your critical processes depend on it, and exactly how. Have a manual fallback that is documented and practised, not something you improvise on a Saturday morning with a queue of angry passengers. Some airlines were able to switch to their own backup systems and keep operating. That is worth a lot.
Separate your connection to the platform from your own network, so a compromise on the supplier side doesn´t spread to you. Monitor the connection. Agree with the supplier on how you will be informed and how the system will be restored, and in which order.
And after the incident, check what data the supplier held about you and your customers. In this case, passenger data was also affected.
Shared infrastructure gives efficiency. It also gives shared failure. Plan for both.