Ukrainian partisans hacked into Russia's emergency alert app overnight, sending fake nuclear warnings to residents, according to reports. The incident came just hours after Russia carried out a similar cyberattack on Ukraine's alert systems.
Fake Nuclear Alert Sent to Russian Residents
ATESH, a resistance movement operating in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and within Russia itself, sent the fake messages on Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry application, UNN reports. Screenshots showed a message for residents of Voronezh Oblast, dated November 2 at 2.47am, warning of nuclear warheads at all regions of Russia.
The alert told residents to stock up on food for three weeks and hide in basements, adding 'otherwise you are f*****'. Russian media and local authorities in the regions later confirmed that the Emergencies Ministry's services had been hacked.
Ukraine Also Targeted
On the evening of November 1, users of Ukraine's "Air Raid Alert" app received false notifications about nuclear, radiation and chemical threats, as well as the danger of street fighting. Ukrainian officials warned that these messages were untrue. Unauthorized interference with the service was considered one of the possible causes of the incident.
ATESH claimed to have hacked the Russian app, however, there is no independent confirmation of the scale of the cyberattack or the number of users who received the fake messages.
Russia's Cyber Threat to UK
In the past, Russia has used cyber-attacks as a means of interfering with a country without carrying out physical attack. On Saturday, The Mirror reported that Russian cyber-attacks have a 10% chance of costing the UK economy at least £4 billion every single year.
A cyber risk assessment of the UK economy claimed Vladimir Putin's Russia accounts for as much as 80% of all losses from state-sponsored cyber threats, and just one successful attack could cost every Brit £100. The analysis was conducted by Moody's insurers on behalf of Labour MP Graeme Downie, who warned Brits were paying a "hidden Putin tax" from Russia's aggression.
Calling for a tough response, he said: "A single Russia-linked cyberattack could cost the UK more than £4 billion. That's based on a serious but realistic attack, the sort with roughly a one-in-ten chance of happening in any given year."
