Hackers send false missile alerts through Ukraine's air warning app

The Air Alert app reached about 6.7 million users before developers shut it down and restored it within two hours. A Russian emergency ministry app was hit the next night.

Hackers broke into Ukraine's Air Alert app on the night of 1 November and sent users false warnings about street fighting. The developers suspended the app and switched off its push notifications, then restored the main functions within two hours.

The first false warning landed at 22:47 Kyiv time. At 22:48 one in Russian told users a nuclear alarm was coming across Ukraine and said the Oreshnik missile was flying. Other alerts warned of radiation and chemical danger and of street fighting in Kyiv, and urged people not to go outside. A group called Hitcore, described as newly founded and previously unknown, said it had broken into the app. The Daily Mail, Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine and The Record all reported the group's claim.

Hitcore said it got in through a phishing file that compromised a system administrator's work computer. The group said it then integrated fake notifications into the app itself. Each fake notification carried a link to hostile Telegram channels. The Record counted 6.6 million active users as of January 2026. The app had about 6.7 million users.

Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation and the app's press service said users should not fear for their personal data. Reports of hacked accounts were false, they said. The ministry added that sirens and general notification systems worked normally despite the false alerts. It urged people to enable system emergency notifications on their smartphones so they get warnings even when push alerts fail. The ministry said the app had been temporarily disabled while the developers dealt with the breach.

hackers broke into the app of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, EMERCOM, on the night of 2 November. Russian users got false notices that nuclear warheads had been launched at all regions of Russia. The false message went to 33 regions around 02:45 msk, including via regional ministry channels on Max. The ministry said the app suffered a massive cyberattack. Specialists took the services offline, isolated them and removed the false information. The ministry asked the public to remain calm and to trust only official sources.