Ukraine and Russia report fake emergency alerts after cyberattack targets apps


Authorities in Ukraine and Russia say their emergency alert mobile apps were targeted by cyberattacks late Sunday, with users in Ukraine receiving false warnings of dangerously high radiation levels in the capital, Kyiv.

In a Telegram post late Sunday, Ukraine’s air raid alert channel said “unauthorized parties” had interfered with the app’s operation and that the service had been temporarily suspended. It warned users not to click on links in “suspicious notifications.”

Authorities in Ukraine said the app, which Ukrainians rely on to seek safety amid daily Russian missile and drone strikes, was restored overnight. The alerts — making false claims of high radiation levels, a chemical threat and public disturbances in Kyiv — were written in English with spelling and grammatical errors as well as in a mix of Russian and Ukrainian.

Read more…
Source:  AP News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Russian cybercrims phish their way into officials’ Signal and WhatsApp accounts

    March 9, 2026

    Russian-linked hackers are trying to break into the Signal and WhatsApp accounts of government officials, journalists, and military personnel globally – not by cracking encryption, but by simply tricking people into handing over the keys. That’s the warning issued Monday by the Netherlands’ intelligence and military security agencies, the AIVD and MIVD, which say a “large-scale” ...

  • ‘Hundreds’ of Iranian hacking attempts have hit surveillance cameras since the missile strikes

    March 4, 2026

    Multiple Iranian hacking crews have been targeting internet-connected surveillance cameras across Israel and other Middle Eastern countries since the war started on February 28, according to Check Point security researchers. The Tel Aviv-based security shop has tracked “hundreds” of attempts to exploit a handful of bugs in IP cameras made by two manufacturers, Hikvision and Dahua, ...

  • CIMB refutes claims of data breach involving 1.2 million records

    March 4, 2026

    CIMB Group Holdings Bhd has given assurance that claims circulating online about a data breach involving its customers are false and that customer data continues to be protected. The financial services provider said on social media platform X that its security teams have verified that all systems are secure and that customer data remains fully safeguarded. ...

  • 15 million French citizens affected by massive data breach following cyberattack on medical software

    February 27, 2026

    A massive data breach concerning the data of 15 million people in France has been revealed after a cyberattack targeted 1,500 doctors using medical software. The administrative data of around 15 million French citizens, along with notes written by their doctors, were leaked in a large-scale breach targeting 1,500 doctors using a medical software from Cegedim ...

  • Conduent data breach gets bigger, more than 25 million people across the US are now affected

    February 26, 2026

    A ransomware attack that caused a massive data breach for one of the largest government contractors in the U.S. keeps expanding. In early February, it was reported that 10 million people were impacted by the Conduent breach a year after it was discovered. Now though, it’s been revealed that the breach may affect more than 25 ...

  • Predator spyware allows full sensor surveillance on iPhones

    February 24, 2026

    Apple may have introduced colored status bar indicators in iOS 14 to alert users when the camera or microphone is active, but experts have warned this does not stop all malware. Spyware developed by Intellexa and Cytrox, dubbed Predator, can operate on compromised iOS devices without showing any camera or microphone indicators. Predator bypasses the indicator ...