Cyber attack brought down Wichita airport Wi-Fi, and it’s still not back. Here’s why
It’s been more than three months since a cyber attack on Wichita took the city’s computer systems offline, and one city service is still not completely back to normal.
Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport was impacted by May’s attack. The airport’s Wi-Fi services went down, as well as its departure and arrival screens. While the screens are back up and running, travelers may notice the Wi-Fi remains unavailable.
Valerie Wise, air service and marketing manager for the airport, which uses the airport code ICT, told The Eagle via email that the airport has been planning on making improvements to its IT system even before the cyber attack, which is one of the main reasons why the Wi-Fi hasn’t returned to its normal capacity.
“Unfortunately, it’s just not feasible to rebuild our old Wi-Fi network and our new Wi-Fi system won’t be fully launched until next year,” Wise said via email.
While travelers will have to wait until 2025 for the new system, Wise said the airport is looking at temporary solutions for terminal Wi-Fi to fix the issue within the next 60 days, Wise said.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause but we greatly appreciate everyone’s patience,” Wise said.
The new Wi-Fi system will be up and running next year, but there is not a specific date in place yet.
The cyber attack occurred in early May and led to the city having to temporarily pull all of its computer systems offline. Multiple city buildings were left without Wi-Fi, and many city services had to move to cash-only forms of payment.
Arrival and departure times at the airport were never affected by the cyber attack.
This story was originally published August 19, 2024 at 4:37 AM.
