Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (HAWWES1773167326)
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Rankiteo Score Impact Analysis
Key Highlights From The Incident Analysis
- Timeline of WestJet's Ransomware and lateral movement inside company's environment.
- Overview of affected data sets, including SSNs and PHI, and why they materially increase incident severity.
- How Rankiteo’s incident engine converts technical details into a normalized incident score.
- How this cyber incident impacts WestJet Rankiteo cyber scoring and cyber rating.
- Rankiteo’s MITRE ATT&CK correlation analysis for this incident, with associated confidence level.
Full Incident Analysis Transcript
In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the WestJet breach identified under incident ID HAWWES1773167326.
The analysis begins with a detailed overview of WestJet's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/westjet, the number of followers: 250874, the industry type: Airlines and Aviation and the number of employees: 8745 employees
After the initial compromise, the video explains how Rankiteo's incident engine converts technical details into a normalized incident score. The incident score before the incident was 661 and after the incident was 561 with a difference of -100 which is could be a good indicator of the severity and impact of the incident.
In the next step of the video, we will analyze in more details the incident and the impact it had on WestJet and their customers.
On 17 June 2024, WestJet disclosed ransomware and data breach issues under the banner "Scattered Spider Cyberattacks on North American Airlines".
At least two major North American airlines, WestJet and Hawaiian Airlines, confirmed cyberattacks in June linked to the cybercriminal group Scattered Spider.
Impact assessments are still underway, so the full scope is not yet clear.
Formal response steps have not been shared publicly yet.
The case underscores how Ongoing.
Finally, we try to match the incident with the MITRE ATT&CK framework to see if there is any correlation between the incident and the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a knowledge base of techniques and sub-techniques that are used to describe the tactics and procedures of cyber adversaries. It is a powerful tool for understanding the threat landscape and for developing effective defense strategies.
MITRE ATT&CK® Correlation Analysis
Rankiteo's analysis has identified several MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques associated with this incident, each with varying levels of confidence based on available evidence. Under the Initial Access tactic, the analysis identified Phishing (T1566) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating scattered Spider specializes in phishing and social engineering and Phishing: Spearphishing Link (T1566.002) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating social engineering tactics to gain access to corporate systems. Under the Execution tactic, the analysis identified User Execution (T1204) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating phishing and social engineering to gain access. Under the Persistence tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating scattered Spider gains access to corporate systems. Under the Privilege Escalation tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating once inside, they often hand off control to ransomware operators. Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Masquerading (T1036) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating scattered Spider known for social engineering tactics. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Adversary-in-the-Middle (T1557) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating phishing and social engineering to gain access. Under the Discovery tactic, the analysis identified Account Discovery (T1087) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating scattered Spider targets aviation industry systems. Under the Lateral Movement tactic, the analysis identified Remote Services (T1021) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating once inside, they often hand off control to ransomware operators. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Data Encrypted for Impact (T1486) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating type such as ransomware, ransomware deployments. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating motivation such as data exfiltration, full scope of breaches under investigation. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.
Sources & References
- WestJet Rankiteo Cyber Incident Details: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/westjet/incident/HAWWES1773167326
- WestJet CyberSecurity Rating page: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/westjet
- WestJet Rankiteo Cyber Incident Blog Article: https://blog.rankiteo.com/hawwes1773167326-westjet-hawaiian-airlines-ransomware-june-2025/
- WestJet CyberSecurity Score History: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/westjet/history
- WestJet CyberSecurity Incident Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/american-airlines-targeted-cyberattacks-westjet-hawaii-rcna215645
- Rankiteo A.I CyberSecurity Rating methodology: https://www.rankiteo.com/Images/rankiteo_algo.pdf
- Rankiteo TPRM Scoring methodology: https://static.rankiteo.com/model/rankiteo_tprm_methodology.pdf