False nuclear warnings sent after Ukraine’s air alert app was hacked

The first radiation warning appeared at 22:47 local time on 1 November, followed by warnings of a chemical threat and street fighting in Kyiv, Ukrainska Pravda reported. At 23:02, the air force said the app had probably been subjected to hostile interference and urged people to follow its official channel.

The app’s developers said they disabled push notifications and temporarily suspended the service, according to The Kyiv Independent. At about 02:00 on 2 November, the app’s team said operations were being gradually restored.

A separate service, eTryvoga, said it had also sent notifications based on false alert statuses from the official source. It removed them and temporarily stopped automatic notifications from that source. The operator said it restored those notifications at 00:15 on 2 November. It said eTryvoga itself had not been hacked and did not pass on the fake nuclear-warning text.

The number of people who received the false warnings is not known. Sofia Kochmar, in Lviv, told the BBC that seeing the word “nuclear” initially frightened her, but the reference to street fighting in Kyiv made her question the alerts. In Kyiv, Anastasiia Romanytska said friends had forwarded the warnings and that her heart raced, even though she suspected they were not serious.

Officials warned people not to open links in suspicious messages and advised them to follow the air force and local authorities for updates.