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BEIJING, July 28 (Reuters) – Chinese AI startup Zhipu on Monday released open-source model GLM-4.5 designed for intelligent agent applications, a statement said, as it joins a wave of similar releases from local rivals in an increasingly competitive sector.

Zhipu, one of China’s “AI tigers” backed by Chinese local governments, gained significant attention after OpenAI said in June that the U.S. company had observed notable progress by the Chinese startup in securing government contracts across several regions.

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Zhipu’s new model release adds to the growing pipeline of models from Chinese companies. As of July, China has already released 1,509 large-language models, ranking first among the 3,755 models released globally, according to a report from state-owned Xinhua news agency.

Reporting by Liam Mo and Brenda Goh; editing by Mark Heinrich

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Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has been hit by a massive cyberattack that has affected key operational systems, grounding a slew of flights and leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

Two pro-Ukrainian hacker groups have claimed responsibility for the attack, which was reportedly a year in the making and has resulted in thousands of the airline’s computer servers being taken offline.

An Aeroflot plane taking off. Credit: Shutterstock

In a statement, Aeroflot confirmed it had suffered an IT systems failure without attributing a cause for the outage. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has, however, confirmed the systems are linked to an ongoing cyberattack.

Russia’s official TASS news agency reported that the airline had ordered stranded passengers to leave Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport after the terminal buildings started to become dangerously overcrowded because so many flights were canceled with little notice.

The attack is believed to have taken place overnight on July 27 into July 28, with some reports suggesting Aeroflot even cut power to its headquarters building in a desperate bid to stop the cyberattack.

Aeroflot is currently unable to rebook passengers or issue refunds, while a limited number of flights are operating on the back of manual processes.

The airline said it was prioritizing flights for transporting Russian troops involved in the war in Ukraine, as well as special category passengers, including people with disabilities and families with young children.

The cyberattack is the latest mass disruption to Russia’s aviation industry this summer, after mass drone attacks forced regulators to shutter huge swathes of airspace across the country.

Earlier this month, 485 flights across Russia were canceled over just one weekend, and thousands more were delayed, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded in overcrowded airports that struggled to cope with the disruption.

The mass cancellations and delays resulted from sweeping and short-notice airspace closures imposed by Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency. Officials euphemistically blamed the chaos on “external disruptions.”

Sources linked to Ukraine have, however, explained that those disruptions were caused by drone attacks deep into Russian territory.

In the aftermath of the weekend flight mayhem, President Putin sacked his transport minister, Roman Starovoit. Just hours after being sacked, Starovoit was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head and a pistol lying by his body in a park on the outskirts of Moscow.

Russia’s national airline Aeroflot has been forced to cancel dozens of flights, disrupting travel across the world’s biggest country, after two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed to have inflicted a crippling cyber attack on the carrier.

The Kremlin said on Monday that the situation was worrying, and Russian politicians have called it a wake-up call for the country.

Prosecutors also confirmed the disruption was caused by a hack and opened a criminal investigation, while senior politician Anton Gorelkin said Russia was under digital attack.

“We must not forget that the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one,” Mr Gorelkin said.

“I do not rule out that the ‘hacktivists’ who claimed responsibility for the incident are in the service of unfriendly states.”

Another member of parliament, Anton Nemkin, said investigators must identify not only the attackers but “those who allowed systemic failures in protection”.

Aeroflot did not say how long the problems would take to resolve, but departure boards at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport turned red as flights were cancelled at a time when many Russians take their holidays.

The company’s shares were down by 3.9 per cent on Monday, underperforming the wider market, which was 1.4 per cent lower.

Dozens of Aeroflot flight services were grounded or delayed in the wake of the hack. (Reuters: Denis Balibouse)

A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation together with Belarusian Cyber Partisans, a self-styled hacktivist group that opposes president Alexander Lukashenko and says it wants to liberate Belarus from dictatorship.

“Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!” said the statement using the Silent Crow name.

Cyber Partisans said on its website: “We are helping Ukrainians in their fight with the occupier, carrying out a cyber strike on Aeroflot and paralysing the largest airline in Russia.”

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Silent Crow has previously claimed responsibility for attacks this year on a Russian real estate database, a state telecoms company, a large insurance firm, the Moscow government’s IT department and the Russian office of South Korean car manufacturer KIA.

Travellers at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport have faced disruption from drones and cyber attacks multiple times this month. (Reuters)

Some of those incidents resulted in big data leaks.

“The information that we are reading in the public domain is quite alarming. The hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the population,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Aeroflot said it had cancelled more than 40 flights — mostly within Russia but also including routes to the Belarusian capital Minsk and the Armenian capital Yerevan — after reporting a failure in its information systems.

An online departure board for Sheremetyevo airport also showed dozens of others were delayed.

“Specialists are currently working to minimise the impact on the flight schedule and to restore normal service operations,” Aeroflot said.

Aeroflot is Russia’s national carrier and previously was the Soviet Union’s flag-carrier. (Reuters: Shamil Zhumatov)

The statements from Silent Crow and Belarusian Cyber Partisans said the cyber attack was the result of a year-long operation which had deeply penetrated Aeroflot’s network, destroyed 7,000 servers and gained control over the personal computers of employees, including senior managers.

They published screenshots of file directories purportedly from inside Aeroflot’s network and threatened to soon start releasing “the personal data of all Russians who have ever flown Aeroflot”, as well as intercepted conversations and emails of Aeroflot staff.

Furious passengers take to social media after hack delays

Since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022, travellers in Russia have become used to flight disruptions, usually caused by temporary airport closures during drone attacks.

Russian companies and government websites have been subjected to sporadic hacking attacks, but Monday’s incident was potentially the most damaging because of the widespread disruption and the high profile of Aeroflot.

Former Aeroflot pilot and aviation expert Andrei Litvinov told Reuters: “This is a serious disaster. Okay, flight delays — you can survive that. But these are losses, huge losses for a state-owned company.”

” If all the correspondence, all the corporate data is exposed — this can have very long-term consequences… First the drones, and now they are blowing up this situation from the inside. ”

Passengers vented their anger on social network VK, complaining about a lack of clear information from the airline.

One traveller, Malena Ashi wrote: “I’ve been sitting at Volgograd airport since 3:30!!!!! The flight has been rescheduled for the third time!!!!!! This time it was rescheduled for approximately 14:50, and it was supposed to depart at 5:00!!!”

Another woman, Yulia Pakhota, said: “The call centre is unavailable, the website is unavailable, the app is unavailable.

“How can I return a ticket or exchange it for the next flight, as Aeroflot suggests?”

Aeroflot said affected passengers could get a refund or re-book as soon as its systems were back and it was trying to get some passengers seats on other airlines.

Despite Western sanctions on Russia that have drastically limited travel and routes, Aeroflot remains among the top 20 airlines worldwide by passenger numbers, which last year hit 55.3 million people, according to its website.

Reuters

Russia’s flag carrier, Aeroflot, is facing a severe operational crisis this Monday after suffering a far-reaching cyberattack that brought down its IT infrastructure. The incident forced the company to cancel over 40 flights and delay at least a dozen more, causing chaos at airports across the country, including its main hub at Moscow-Sheremetyevo (SVO).

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Responsibility for the attack was claimed by a hacktivist group calling itself Silent Crow, which stated it acted in concert with the Belarusian group Cyberpartisans BY. In a statement whose authenticity is being analyzed, the attackers directly linked their actions to the war in Ukraine. “Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!” concluded the group’s message, which, according to Reuters, has a history of attacks against other Russian entities.

The hackers claim the operation was the result of a year-long effort to infiltrate Aeroflot’s network, asserting they have destroyed 7,000 servers and gained control over employee computers, including those of senior managers. Furthermore, they issued a serious threat: the imminent release of “the personal data of all Russians who have ever flown Aeroflot.”

What You Need to Know What happened? A massive cyberattack affected Aeroflot’s reservation, dispatch, and operational systems. Who is behind it? A pro-Ukrainian hacker group called Silent Crow, in collaboration with Cyberpartisans BY. What is the immediate impact? Over 40 flights were canceled and numerous delays occurred, primarily on domestic routes but also to Minsk (Belarus) and Yerevan (Armenia). What is the Russian government saying? The Kremlin deems it “alarming,” and the prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation.

The impact on passengers was immediate. Stranded travelers at airports like Volgograd voiced their frustration on social media regarding the lack of information and continuous schedule changes. The airline’s website and mobile app became inaccessible, preventing customers from managing their bookings or requesting refunds. Aeroflot stated it is working to mitigate the impact and restore normal operations, offering refunds or rebookings once its systems are back online.

The Russian government’s reaction was swift. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the situation as “quite alarming” and acknowledged the persistent threat hackers pose to large service companies. Meanwhile, lawmaker Anton Gorelkin, a key figure in Russia’s digital policy, declared that “the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one,” suggesting the hacktivists could be in the service of “unfriendly states.” The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia confirmed the incident was the result of a hack and has already launched a criminal investigation.

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This event highlights the vulnerability of Russia’s digital infrastructure, particularly in a sector like aviation, which has been operating under heavy international sanctions since 2022. Despite these restrictions, Aeroflot carried 55.3 million passengers last year, remaining one of the world’s top 20 airlines by volume.

Russian national flag carrier Aeroflot was forced to cancel dozens of flights Monday after a crippling cyberattack claimed by a shadowy pro-Ukrainian hacking group, which one lawmaker called a wake-up call for Moscow.

The Kremlin said the situation was worrying and prosecutors confirmed the disruption was the result of a hack and opened a criminal investigation. Senior lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said that Russia was under digital attack.

“We must not forget that the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one. And I do not rule out that the ‘hacktivists’ who claimed responsibility for the incident are in the service of unfriendly states,” Gorelkin said in a statement.

Aeroflot did not say how long the problems would take to resolve, but departure boards at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport turned red as flights were cancelled at a time when many Russians take their holidays.

A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation together with a Belarusian group called Cyberpartisans BY, and linked it to the war in Ukraine.

“Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!” said the statement, whose authenticity Reuters could not immediately verify.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Silent Crow has previously claimed responsibility for attacks this year on a Russian real estate database, a state telecoms company, a large insurance firm, the Moscow government’s IT department and the Russian office of South Korean carmaker KIA. Some of those resulted in big data leaks.

“The information that we are reading in the public domain is quite alarming. The hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the population,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Aeroflot, the transport ministry and the aviation regulator did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the hack.

The airline said it had cancelled more than 40 flights — mostly within Russia but also including routes to the Belarusian capital Minsk and the Armenian capital Yerevan — after reporting a failure in its information systems. At least 10 other flights were delayed.

“Specialists are currently working to minimize the impact on the flight schedule and to restore normal service operations,” it said.

The statement in the name of Silent Crow said the cyberattack was the result of a year-long operation which had deeply penetrated Aeroflot’s network, destroyed 7,000 servers and gained control over the personal computers of employees, including senior managers.

It published screenshots of file directories purportedly from inside Aeroflot’s network and threatened to shortly start releasing “the personal data of all Russians who have ever flown Aeroflot”.

Since Russia launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022, travellers in Russia have become accustomed to flight disruptions. However, those delays have usually been caused by temporary airport closures during drone attacks.

Irate passengers vented their anger on social network VK, complaining about a lack of clear information from the airline.

Malena Ashi wrote: “I’ve been sitting at Volgograd airport since 3:30!!!!! The flight has been rescheduled for the third time!!!!!! This time it was rescheduled for approximately 14:50, and it was supposed to depart at 5:00!!!”

Another woman, Yulia Pakhota, posted: “The call center is unavailable, the website is unavailable, the app is unavailable.

How can I return a ticket or exchange it for the next flight, as Aeroflot suggests?”

Aeroflot said affected passengers could get a refund or rebook as soon as its systems were up and running and that it was trying to get some affected passengers seats on other airlines.

Despite Western sanctions on Russia that have drastically limited travel and routes, Aeroflot remains among the top 20 airlines worldwide by passenger numbers, which last year hit 55.3 million people, according to its website.