MAHB’s corporate communications general manager Shukreen Ma said there had been no disruption of flights at KLIA and no passengers stranded at the airport.

“We continue to focus on ensuring that operations are running smoothly,” she told FMT.

Ma was responding to a New Straits Times report which cited a source as saying that the cyberattack had disrupted KLIA’s systems for over 10 hours on March 23.

The source said the incident had rendered the airport’s flight information display system, check-in counters, and baggage handling inoperative, forcing airlines and airport staff to switch to manual operations.

The source said that the situation was made worse by the lack of a robust backup system, which slowed recovery efforts.

The daily also reported an aviation industry source as saying that flight information boards were down intermittently for two days after the attack.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim revealed that hackers had breached MAHB’s digital system and demanded US$10 million, but said the government refused to comply.

The National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa) responded by saying it would continue to monitor certain computer systems at KLIA which were affected by the cybersecurity threat.

Nacsa chief executive Megat Zuhairy Megat Tajuddin said the agency had been closely following developments since receiving a report from MAHB on the matter.

Megat Zuhairy also said that KLIA’s operations were not impacted by the security breach, and that the agency would continue to monitor the situation and provide support for MAHB.