Bristol Airport was subjected to a cyber attack last weekend which caused flight display screens to blackout.

Bosses confirmed the airport was subject to a ‘speculative’ ransomware attack, which is a type of malicious software which threatens to publish data unless a ransom is paid.

The flight information screens were offline from 3.20am on Friday and replaced with makeshift paper noticeboards until 6.23am on Sunday.

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An airport spokesman said: “We believe there was an online attempt to target part of our administrative systems which required us to take a number of applications offline as a precautionary measure, including the one that provides our data for flight information screens.

“It was done to contain the problem and avoid any further impact on more critical systems.

“The indications are this was a speculative attempt rather than a targeted attack on Bristol Airport.”