Ukraine's air raid alert app apparently hacked, sending false radiation and other threat warnings in Kyiv
Ukraine's air raid alert app was apparently hacked on Sunday and for a short time said the capital Kyiv was subject to a radiation threat, the Ukrainian Air Force has said.
In a message on Telegram, the Air Force said the Air Alarm application has probably been subjected to hostile interference, stressing that there is no radiation threat and urging people to stay calm and follow updates on its channel.
The Ukrainian Central Intelligence Agency said on Telegram that there had been a failure in the app, and urged people to use other sources of information to clarify the situation regarding the threat of air strikes.
The messages, in Ukrainian, started at approximately 22:47 (20:47 GMT), with the first reading: Radiation threat — radiation threat declared in Kyiv.
The next alert, written in Russian, came at 22:48 and said there would be a nuclear alert across Ukraine and that the Oreshnik was flying, telling people not to worry.
A third alert, at 22:49 and again in Ukrainian, said there was a chemical threat and a threat of a chemical attack on Kyiv, telling people not to go outside.
At 22:49, a fourth alert stated there was a street fighting threat, saying street fighting was taking place in Kyiv and telling people not to go outside.
A series of all-clear messages were then delivered to users' phones, each connected to one of the previous alerts and individually declaring that threat clear.
In a separate post, the Ukrainian Central Intelligence Agency said that, due to the Air Alert application, the radiation hazard signal was played on loudspeaker devices in the Lviv region, and added there was no threat of a radiation hazard.
It advised the public to turn on notifications on their smartphones, pay attention to sirens, and only read official sources.
The governor of Vinnytsia oblast, Natalya Zabolotna, said there had been a cyberattack on the Air Alert app and posted a warning on Telegram not to click on the link in the message.
The Air Alert app is supported by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and informs users instantly about the beginning and end of defence alerts. Ukrainians are used to reacting to the app's warnings of Russian attacks.
