Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirms no evidence of a cyberattack during the nationwide FAA ground stop, attributing the massive disruption to mechanical failures in outdated telecommunications infrastructure that requires upgrades.
DHS Chief Denies Cyberattack Behind Nationwide US FAA Ground Stop
US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday (local time) said authorities had found no evidence so far that a telecommunications outage which triggered a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ground stop was caused by a cyberattack or rogue artificial intelligence, but stressed that investigators were not ruling out any possibility.
Responding to whether he could say with 100 per cent certainty that the disruption was not caused by a cyberattack or rogue AI, Mullin said the available evidence pointed towards a mechanical failure, although investigations were continuing.
Mullin also described the disruption as a national security concern, backing Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's demand for congressional funding to replace the country's ageing air traffic control infrastructure.
Duffy had earlier attributed the technical failure to ageing telecommunications infrastructure, explaining that radar and communication systems at air traffic control centres and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities experienced instability at approximately 3:36 pm local time.
The Transportation Secretary renewed the administration's appeal to Congress for bipartisan funding to build an entirely new air traffic control system rather than relying on incremental repairs. According to flight-tracking platform FlightAware, approximately 7,000 flights were delayed or cancelled following the disruption.
