Ukraine’s air raid warning system hacked, Air Force says, as false nuclear and chemical alerts sound

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Ukraine’s air raid warning system was hacked in late November, the Air Force said, as sirens sounded across the country and people received false alerts warning of nuclear, chemical and street fighting threats.

kyiv’s independent journalists on the ground received notifications on their phones from the officially supported Air Alert app, made in collaboration between the Ministry of Digital Transformation and security technology company Ajax Systems.

“Hello! A nuclear alert is about to go off across Ukraine! Don’t worry, the Oreshnik is on its way,” one of the fake alerts on the Air Alert app reads in Russian.

Air raid alerts also sounded on the streets of the country, particularly in the Transcarpathian region in western Ukraine, journalists on the ground reported.

“It is likely that the ‘Air Alert’ application has been compromised by the enemy. There is no radiological threat! Please stay calm and follow our updates on our channel (Telegram),” the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Ukraine’s Center for Combating Disinformation said the “Air Alert” app was “probably compromised.”

Several regional governors also warned that the system had been hacked and informed residents that there was no threat.

“Currently the situation in the region is calm. Reports indicate a cyberattack on the notification application,” said the governor of the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Svitlana Onyshchuk.

Officials also warned that the cyberattack could involve a phishing operation with links attached.

“Cyber ​​attack on the ‘Air Alert’ application. Do not click on the link in the message,” reported the governor of the Vinnytsia region, Natalia Zabolotna.

The false alerts were then removed about an hour later.

At midnight local time, Ukraine’s emergency services said that although the national alert system was operating normally, citizens should continue to monitor information from local authorities and listen to signals broadcast over loudspeakers.

“We once again urge citizens not to click on links from unknown sources and not to spread unverified information,” emergency services said.