On March 9, in Moscow and the Sverdlovsk region, air raid warnings sounded on television channels and radio stations. The Russian Emergencies Ministry explained the spread of fake announcements through hacking.
The television warnings were accompanied by the text: “Everyone take cover immediately!”. The ads talked about ‘hitting’ and also recommended using gas masks or gauze bandages and taking potassium iodide pills, according to videos that publish telegram channel “Attention, news”.
In the services of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for Sverdlovsk region And Moscow reported that the announcement of an air raid alert was the result of a hack into the servers of radio stations and television stations. The information “is false and untrue”, according to reports. According to Moscow 24, false emergency warnings, in particular, rang on the airwaves of the television channels “Samedi” and TNT4.
Fake air raid alerts have been appearing on radio and television in Russian cities since late February. In particular, on February 23, the Ukrainian anthem and the call of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Kirill Budanov, sounded on the radio in Crimea. The Ministry of Emergency Situations also explained these incidents as a hacker attack.
Vedomosti wrote, citing a source, that on February 28, false alarm announcements appeared on television channels due to the interception of a signal from a satellite of the Gazprom Space Systems holding.
After attacks by hackers in several regions of Russia, an audit of warning systems scheduled for March 1 was canceled.
