The mobile app of the Russian Emergencies Ministry was attacked at night and sent fake warnings about a suspected nuclear warhead launch to all regions of the country. Users were urged to stock up on food for three weeks and take shelter in basements.
The message mentions carriers with the designation P1-SUN. There is no data on the actual launch of nuclear weapons. The Ministry of Emergency Situations described the information as false and said the application had been the subject of a massive cyberattack.
“The mobile application of the Russian Emergencies Ministry was subjected to a massive cyberattack, as a result of which malicious actors managed to spread false information among the population,“ the ministry said.Specialists are working to eliminate the vulnerability and restore the application to normal operation. As of 4 a.m. Moscow time, the process had not yet been completed.
The main warning system is not affected
The Ministry of Emergency Situations said that the attack did not and could not affect the main system for notifying the population. It includes regional and municipal sirens and loudspeakers, SMS notifications, television and radio broadcasts.
“The Russian Federation's population notification system is operating in normal mode“, the ministry assured. The same position was later quoted by “Kommersant“, which reported that the hacker attack did not affect sirens, loudspeakers and other main warning channels.
According to the Russian department, the mobile application is only an additional information channel. The fake messages do not constitute an official warning of a nuclear threat.
The attack followed a breach in a Ukrainian application
The incident in Russia occurred hours after reports of hacking of the Ukrainian application “Air Alert“. On November 1, its users received false notifications about radiation and chemical hazards, street fighting, and the threat of Oreshnik missiles. The application team confirmed the breach and temporarily suspended its work.
„Kommersant“ reported that after the attack on the Russian application, similar fake texts also appeared on some regional channels of the Russian emergency services. Russian authorities have not named suspects in the attack and have not reported whether they have established the scale of the compromised systems.
Sources: pravda.com.ua, kommersant.ru, rbc.ru