Cape Town — The South African Weather Services (SAWS) confirmed that its aviation website is up and running again after two cyberattacks after being hacked.
In a statement, SAWS said it regained access to limited, critical services including international weather charts, wind charts, domestic and international flights, research products and Radar images.
SAWS’ Oupa Segalwe said the restoration of the aviation website was a crucial step to ensure full restoration and functionality of the service. He said users will only be able to access severe weather warnings on the platform.
“The rest of the products such as domestic significant weather charts, atmospheric pressure charts, and airman’s reports are undergoing functionality tests and will be available within the shortest possible time,” Segalwe said.
SAWS CEO, Ishaam Abader, said stakeholders understood the severity of the situation and that served as motivation for the cybersecurity and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) team to reverse the effects of the attack.
MEDIA RELEASE: SAWS aviation website back online following last month’s cyberattack pic.twitter.com/IdLsgbgBCG
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) February 23, 2025
“We are in the early stages of recovery. It took other organisations that fell victim to this kind of crime anything from weeks to months or more to recover fully. We hope to be back on our feet sooner,” Abader said.
Saws spokesperson Hannelee Doubell said the service’s weather stations at OR Tambo International Airport are currently relying on alternative measures to disseminate regular aeronautical weather information and updates to the aviation community.
She said the marine portal and WeatherSMART app remain offline.
“However, the public and media houses can access daily rainfall, temperatures and severe weather information via social media platforms and email, respectively,” she said.
SAWS said the restoration of the main site follows several other milestones including the reopening of the email system and internet service which were cut off following the attack.
“These were in addition to the reinforcement of cybersecurity measures to better detect and fend off threats that use email and the internet as entry points.”
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Picture: X/@SAWeatherServic
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
