Ukraine and Russia report cyberattacks on emergency alert apps

Ukraine and Russia have both reported cyberattacks targeting mobile applications used to send emergency alerts to the public. DW, France 24, and the South China Morning Post reported that the hacks occurred as a local ceasefire in the eastern Kherson region expired on Sunday. Russia described the cyberattack on its emergency warnings app as massive. [1][3][6]

According to Al Jazeera, Ukraine's Air Force said its air raid alert application sent out false messages after allegedly being hacked by Russia. Erroneous notifications sent on Sunday warned of nuclear, chemical, and street combat threats in and around Kyiv. The false alerts also claimed that Russia had deployed its hypersonic Oreshnik missile. [2]

Russia's emergencies ministry also confirmed that its mobile app was hit by a massive cyberattack that led to false information being broadcast, according to Al Jazeera and France 24. As FTMQ News reported earlier, Ukraine's air raid alert application previously suffered an apparent hack that sent false radiation threat messages to users in Kyiv. [2][3][17]

The cyberattacks coincided with statements regarding energy infrastructure strikes. DW and France 24 reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would stop hitting Russian oil refineries if the United States provided Kyiv with Patriot interceptor missiles. ABC News Australia reported that Russia recently opened a terrorism case following a massive drone attack that caused significant damage to a Russian oil refinery. [1][3][5]