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The SA Weather Service (Saws) aviation website is back online after a cyberattack paralysed its information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure.
Saws said it has access to limited, critical services, including significant international weather charts, wind charts, domestic and international flight documentation, research products and radar images.
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 soon.
Saws spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said restoring the aviation website was crucial to restoring the service’s full functionality.
“In the meantime, the Saws’ Aviation Weather Centre at OR Tambo International Airport continues to rely on alternative means to disseminate regular aeronautical weather information and updates to the aviation community.
“Although the Saws’ main website and hub of weather and climate data is also back online, weather forecasts are not yet accessible on the site.
“Users will only be able to access severe weather warnings, among other things, on the platform. It must be noted that the warnings expire at the end of their validity periods and will disappear from the site,” Segalwe said.
ALSO READ: Saws fighting to restore ICT weather systems after cyber hack
Segalwe said the Saws Marine Portal and WeatherSMART app also remain offline, but the public and media can still access daily rainfall and temperatures, as well as severe weather information, via social media platforms and e-mail.
Saws CEO Ishaam Abader said the entity is still 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, adding that the Saws cyberattack was the latest in a series of similar incidents that reportedly rocked several public and private institutions over the past five years.
Last month, The Citizen reported how Saws ICT systems went down after “a security breach by criminal elements”.
The forecaster said an initial attempt to hack the service the previous night failed.
Last year, IBM’s annual Cost of a Data Breach Report revealed that the average cost of a single data breach case in South Africa was R53.1 million in 2024
The report showed that stolen or compromised credentials were the most common initial attack vectors in South Africa, accounting for 17% of all cyberattacks.
ALSO READ: Critical aviation and marine services ‘interrupted’ by SA Weather hack
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