Ransomware Disrupts European Airports in 2025: HardBit & SonicWall VPN Exploit
In September 2025, a coordinated HardBit ransomware attack caused significant operational disruptions across several European airports. The attack exploited a vulnerability in SonicWall SSL VPN devices (CVE-2024-40766), allowing threat actors to bypass multi-factor authentication and gain unauthorized access to critical infrastructure. Prompt law enforcement action led to the arrest of an initial suspect by the UK’s National Crime Agency, though details remain limited as investigations continue. The attack, labeled by researchers as primitive yet effective, underscores how quickly threat actors are leveraging both publicly available exploits and compromised credentials to disrupt essential services with ransomware. This event made headlines due to its impact on vital transportation infrastructure and prompted an international response highlighting the growing urgency for robust network segmentation, encrypted traffic measures, and rapid threat detection. The incident also reflects a broader trend of ransomware actors increasingly targeting critical sectors using innovative entry vectors and expanding their global footprint.
Kill Chain
