Russia, Ukraine report cyber-attacks on emergency alert apps
Ukraine and Russia are reporting cyber-attacks on their emergency alert apps, with fake warnings sent to users around the countries according to BBC.
Ukraine was first to report problems, and for a short time the capital Kyiv was subject to a radiation threat, the Ukrainian Air Force has said.
A few hours later Russian authorities said its app was hacked, with a Ukrainian espionage group reportedly sending fake warnings of nuclear strikes inside Russia.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest developments.
Ukraine’s air force tells residents to stay calm
The country’s air force quickly responded after alarming false alerts on its air raid alert app for a short time said the capital Kyiv was subject to a radiation threat.
“The Air Alarm application has probably been subjected to hostile interference. There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel,” the air force said on Telegram.
The Ukrainian Central Intelligence Agency says there was a failure in the Air Alert app, and urges people to use other sources of information to clarify the situation on the threat of air strikes.
The app is supported by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, and informs users instantly about the beginning and end of defence alerts.
Russia says its app is still down but broader alert system is operating
The Russian emergencies ministry says its public alert system is “operating as normal”, stressing that citizens are informed of alerts through multiple channels including sirens and loudspeakers, text messages, and TV and radio broadcasts, and that the app is “only an additional, ancillary news service”.
“The hacking of the mobile app has not had, and cannot have, any impact on the operation of the public alert system,” it said on its Telegram channel.
It said specialists were working to restore normal operation of the mobile app but the situation was “under control”.
Ukraine tells residents to ignore ‘strange messages’
Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communications has blamed Russia for the hack in a post on its X account.
It posted a picture showing some of the alerts that had showed up on Ukraine’s air raid warning app and asked residents to “disregard” any “strange messages” they might see in the app.
Hacking part of cyber warfare, says Ukrainian politician
Oleksander Merezhko, chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, has told the BBC the attack did not cause panic or extreme reactions.
Merezhko says Ukrainians, especially in Kyiv, are used to “practically non-stop alerts”.
“Secondly, this message was in Russian language which immediately aroused suspicions,” he says.
“It’s a very unpleasant fact but it is part of cyber war and people in Ukraine understand that. It is possible and we are quite prepared for such possibilities,” adds Merezhko, a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party,