Somebody hacked Ukraine's Air Alert app and opened with "Hi!"
Not "seek shelter." Not "this is an emergency." Hi. Like a guy texting his ex at 2 a.m.
The alert went on to announce a nuclear threat across Ukraine. Then it told users not to worry, because an Oreshnik missile was incoming. That is the most reassuring way anyone has ever announced a hypersonic missile.
The app also warned of radiation in Kyiv, a chemical threat, and street fighting. Millions of phones buzzed. Ukraine's air force called it hostile interference and said the app is separate from military command systems. So the generals were fine. Your cousin in Kyiv was not.
Then Russia got its turn, hours later. The Emergencies Ministry app told users that nuclear warheads strapped to Ukrainian P1-Sun drones had been launched at every Russian region. Moscow called it a massive cyberattack and said it was fixing a vulnerability in the app.
Fixing a vulnerability. The app that tells citizens when to run for their lives had a vulnerability. Stop the presses.
Nobody knows if the two hacks are related. Russia says its sirens, SMS, TV and radio warnings were unaffected. Ukraine says the same of its military systems. Everyone is fine, apparently, except the one thing that exists to make people fine.
One group, Hitcore, told Russian outlet Mash it got into the alert system through an employee's computer. Not a zero-day. Not a state-sponsored supercomputer. One guy's laptop. The entire nuclear warning infrastructure of a country at war, defeated by Greg from IT clicking something.
Retail traders will spend today asking whether this moves oil. Whether it moves the ruble. Whether it moves the hryvnia. It moves nothing. The only thing that moved was a few million thumbs toward the "dismiss" button.
Two governments spent years and billions on missile defense. A stranger with a stolen password said "Hi!" and nearly emptied Kyiv into basements.
Photo by on Unsplash
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