Aeronautical Radio Incorporated (ARINC) of India has
been managing the check-in counters, transfers counters and boarding
gates at the IGI by using the Common Use Passengers Processing System
(CUPPS). About a year ago, the CUPPS
was infected with a malware and it caused great annoyance
to the passengers.
The central bureau of investigation (CBI) was called
in to investigate the issue. Now after a year CBI has come out with
the cause and reason for the abnormal use of CUPPS. According to CBI,
a disgruntled employee of Delhi airport’s service provider company
was responsible for disrupting the check-in, boarding and baggage
handling systems at Terminal 3.
It is claimed that the accused planted a malicious
script ‘kill.cmd’ at the servers. The accused worked with ARINC
as the system personnel. He was dissatisfied with his employment
growth and wanted to prove his caliber to the company. He was
expecting that by disrupting the system the company would call him to
seek his services.
The initial investigation focused on the insider’s
involvement as the system required multiple access with administrator
rights. Planting of the malware in such scenario was difficult except
for an insider. Further, the system was accessed multiple times from
remote locations in Bangalore. Let us see how this case would proceed
further.
