Russian media has blamed hackers after commercial radio stations in the country broadcast bogus warnings about air raids and missile strikes.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations, a Russian government agency, reportedly warned that false information about attacks had been broadcast on stations including Gazprom Media stations Relax FM, Comedy Radio, and Humor FM.
The bogus broadcast warnings, which were accompanied by loud siren noises, advised civillians to head to air raid shelters.
As The Record reports, some people managed to record today’s fake air raid warnings on camera.
Today, radio stations across Russia including in Volgograd, Stavropol, Moscow region broadcasted air raid warnings (the video is reportedly from Belgorod)
Acc to the Ministry of Emergency Situations this messages is fake and was caused by a hacker attack https://t.co/Cd7bGeVVAx pic.twitter.com/wfuIjGQkyZ
— Oleg Shakirov (@shakirov2036) February 22, 2023
Yesterday, state media websites broadcasting a state of the nation speech by Russian president Vladimir Putin were disrupted by an apparent denial-of-service attack for which Ukrainian hackers later claimed responsibility.
That attack must have been particularly galling, as – before the speech began – TV channels had described the technical preparations that had been made to ensure that the live stream would be carried across all of Russian’s major TV channels.
I don’t think anyone would be surprised if these latest bogus air raid warnings broadcast over the radio was also the work of Ukrainian hackers, or at least those who are sympathetic with the country’s plight.
