As recovery efforts for the Heathrow Airport cyberattack continue, a cyber expert warns that the most significant threat may not be the immediate delays, but the potential long-term consequences if sensitive data was accessed during the breach.
The attack did not originate from Heathrow’s own IT infrastructure but was instead traced to a breach of Collins Aerospace’s ‘MUSE’ platform, which supports passenger processing for multiple airlines. As a result, airports in Brussels and Berlin were also impacted, highlighting the potential for widespread disruption when a key supplier is compromised.
Zain Javed (pictured above), CTO at Citation Cyber, explained, “This wasn’t Heathrow’s own IT falling over, it was a supply-chain hit. Hackers went after Collins Aerospace’s ‘MUSE’ platform, which underpins check-in and boarding for dozens of airlines. By breaching the vendor, they managed to hit Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin all at once. It’s a back-door route that bypasses the airport’s own defences and shows just how exposed organisations are through their suppliers.”
The incident has exposed the risks of concentrated vendor dependencies, with the outage paralysing multiple hubs simultaneously and serving as a real-world test of the aviation sector’s resilience.
The most significant operational impact was seen at passenger touchpoints. According to Javed, “Self-service kiosks and bag-drop systems were knocked out, forcing airlines to check people in manually and even hand-write luggage tags. That created queues and delays that rippled through to boarding and flight schedules.”
He noted that while safety systems and air traffic control remained unaffected, the disruption was highly visible to travellers.
Heathrow has reported that most flights are now operating on schedule, though some check-in systems are still being patched. “Collins Aerospace has called it the ‘final stage of updates’, which suggests the worst is over, but it’s not a complete return to normal yet,” Javed said. He added that residual disruption could persist for another day or so, with full restoration expected only after thorough security checks confirm the systems are clean.
Behind the scenes, recovery efforts involve a combination of technical and operational measures. “Engineers are isolating affected servers, scrubbing out malware, and rolling out software updates, while at the same time Heathrow staff are keeping passengers moving with manual processes,” Javed said. He added that cyber teams are reviewing logs to determine the attackers’ entry point and to ensure no back-doors remain, with government cyber agencies involved in the final sign-off.
The incident has also prompted scrutiny of cyber insurance policies, particularly regarding the triggers for business interruption and the scope of dependent-business cover. As the insurance market assesses the fallout, questions are being raised about how well current wordings and supplier contracts address the risks of aggregated losses and cross-border incidents in highly interconnected sectors like aviation.
Javed also raised concerns about the potential for data exposure, which has not received as much public attention.
“If attackers were inside MUSE, they could also have accessed passenger details, staff accounts, or even airline credentials. That kind of information is gold dust for cybercriminals. It can be sold on or used in future attacks long after the airport queues have cleared,” he said.
Javed noted that while operational disruption is immediate and visible, the long-term risk of data exposure may have more serious implications for affected organisations and individuals.
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