On the night of November 2, unknown attackers hacked the mobile app of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM) and spread false alerts about an alleged launch of nuclear warheads at the country. Similar notifications appeared in the official regional channels of the agency.
The incident was reported by the outlet Astra. Russian EMERCOM later officially confirmed a massive cyberattack on its app.
The fake alerts claimed that nuclear warheads had been launched on P1-SUN carriers across all regions of Russia. Residents were urged to stock up on food for three weeks and take shelter in basements.
In fact, P1-SUN is the name of a Ukrainian interceptor drone developed by the SkyFall company to combat aerial targets, including Russian Shahed-type attack drones.
According to the russian media, the hackers' messages were distributed through the channels of regional EMERCOM departments on the MAX messenger. In particular, they were recorded in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Tula, and Chelyabinsk regions, Perm and Stavropol territories, and Bashkortostan. The fake alert also appeared in the Telegram channel of the operational headquarters of the Belgorod region.
Russia's EMERCOM acknowledged that as a result of the cyberattack, third parties were able to send false information to app users. The agency reported fixing vulnerabilities and restoring its operation.
At the same time, the Russian ministry claims that the main state public alert system continues to operate normally. According to its information, the hack did not affect the operation of sirens, loudspeakers, SMS alerts, television, and radio broadcasting.
The cyberattack occurred a few hours after a similar incident in Ukraine. On the evening of November 1, unknown attackers hacked the "Air Alert" app, through which users received false messages about radiation and chemical hazards, street fighting, and the threat of use of the "Oreshnik" missile.
Ukrainian developers temporarily suspended the app's operation, and on the night of November 2 began gradually restoring its functions. In particular, air raid alerts became operational again, but the display of targets on the map remained unavailable.
There is currently no confirmed data on the perpetrators of the cyberattack on Russian resources or on the link between the two incidents.
