Ukraine's air raid alert app hacked: millions received fake radiation warnings

On the evening of 1 November the “Air Raid Alert” app, used by millions of people in Ukraine, started sending notifications about radiation danger, chemical threats and street fighting. Some captions were in Russian. The Ukrainian Air Force quickly stated there was no radiation threat and that the app had probably been subjected to hostile interference.

The developers took the service down. Cyberpolice and the Interior Ministry confirmed a probable breach, results of the investigation have not been published. By the morning of 2 November service is being restored in stages.

A group calling itself Hitcore claimed responsibility. By its account an administrator was sent an infected file disguised as a photo. The claim is not independently confirmed, but if true it is the classic scenario: one person with access to the broadcast console gets compromised.

The developers say the app stores no personal data. That settles the leak question but not the main one: anyone with console access can send anything to millions of people in seconds. For an alerting service that is the critical vulnerability, whatever the exact entry point.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda