People across Ukraine and Russia were plunged into panic overnight after emergency alert apps were hacked with fake warnings of nuclear attacks.
Ukraine’s air raid alert channel confirmed in a social media post that “unauthorized parties” had breached the app and that the service had been temporarily suspended.
The app, which Ukrainians use daily for alerts about impending Russian missile and drone strikes, was eventually restored after making alarming claims about high radiation levels and chemical attacks in Kyiv, officials said.
The posts, which were full of spelling errors and written in Russian, mentioned hacking group Hitcore. Mash, a Russian Telegram channel with ties to the country’s security services said it spoke to representatives from the group who claimed responsibility for the attack.
One of the fake alarms said Russia had launched a hypersonic Oreshnik missile — which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead — and that a nuclear alert had been declared across Ukraine.
“The air alert app appears to have been subjected to enemy influence,” the Ukrainian air force later said in a statement. “There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel!”
Officials issued all-clear messages and said all public alerts, including air raid sirens, were functioning properly.
A few hours later, officials with Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said its mobile app had also been hit by a massive cyberattack that led to false alerts about nuclear weapons.
Russians were falsely warned that nuclear warheads had been launched against the entire country and urged people to stock up on three weeks of food and take shelter in their cellars.
However, the ministry largely dismissed the impact, saying it was not one of its main public warning system channels but a supplementary source of information.
A bogus message reviewed by Reuters did not even attempt to come off as an official announcement, but was laced with colloquialisms, expletives and slammed Russia as a “swamp.”
With Post Wires
