Ukraine carries out retaliatory cyberattack on Russia's emergency alert system
President Volodymyr Zelenskyi confirmed Ukraine's role in the operation in an interview with the US television network PBS News.
Zelenskyi said the attack on the Ukrainian app was part of a broader Russian cyber campaign targeting Ukraine's civilian infrastructure.
Previous targets included banking and pension systems, social assistance services, and other platforms that provide support to the public.
The president said Ukraine viewed the attack on the Air Alert app as a deliberate attempt to harm civilians. Ukrainian specialists and intelligence services then responded.
"So, of course, after this attack, when it became absolutely clear to all our citizens, our specialists, and our intelligence services that this was a deliberate attack against our people, against civilians, we responded," Zelenskyi said.
During the interview, the journalist specifically asked whether Zelenskyi could confirm that Ukraine had carried out the cyberattack on Russia's alert system. Zelenskyi said yes and stressed that Ukraine was responding to Russia's earlier attack.
"Yes, absolutely. We just responded to the attack," the president said.
On the evening of November 1, Russian hackers broke into Ukraine's official Air Alert app. After the cyberattack, users began receiving fake alerts in Russian. The messages warned of radiation and chemical hazards, street fighting, and the threat of a Russian Oreshnik missile strike.
In response, Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation issued guidance on other ways to receive air raid alerts.
By the morning of November 2, the ministry said the Air Alert app was gradually coming back online after the cyberattack. Users could once again receive push notifications about air raid alerts and see yellow and red danger levels on the map. However, the app had temporarily turned off the feature that displayed the locations of aerial threats.
Overnight on November 2, Russian officials said hackers had broken into the Emergency Situations Ministry's mobile app and sent users fake alerts about a nuclear threat.
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