Ukrainian Air Alert app hacked, false radiation hazard alerts sent

What happened

Unknown actors hacked the Ukrainian Air Alert app, which is used to publish alerts, and within a short period of time sent warnings about a radiation hazard, a chemical threat, street fighting, and an attack with the Oreshnik missile. This was reported by Gazeta.Ru citing the outlet Strana. One of the messages was quoted by the outlet as follows: 'Hi! There will be a nuclear alert across all of Ukraine right now! Don't worry — the Oreshnik is flying'.

Official response and monitoring data

The Armed Forces of Ukraine warned of 'possible enemy influence' on the app and stated that there was no radiation threat. The military urged citizens to remain calm and follow official information. According to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center as of November 1, the radiation situation in the country remained stable — with no signs of technogenic radionuclides that could indicate problems at nuclear power plants or the cross-border spread of radioactive materials.

Context of previous attacks

This is not the first report of cyberattacks on Ukrainian infrastructure in Gazeta.Ru's publications. In early October, a pro-Russian hacker using the alias PalachPro reported hacking data centers in Ukraine and gaining access to documents of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense — according to him, this concerned document management backup systems and mail servers of the military department, the Armiya+ app, and the Sonata messenger, which servicemen use for official communication. There were also earlier reports of the hacking of surveillance cameras across Ukraine. Unlike those cases, the Air Alert incident directly affected the alerting of the civilian population: false signals were sent through a service used by residents across the entire country, which is why the military had to issue a separate denial.