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Russia and Ukraine Exchange Blame Over New Cyberattacks · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Both Ukraine and Russia are reporting unusual cyber attacks that
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: interfered with emergency alert apps. Ukraine says the country's air
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  Speaker 1: raid alert app was hacked. And for a short time,
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  Speaker 1: it showed certain areas were subject to nuclear and chemical threats.
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  Speaker 1: The app also warned of fighting in the streets of
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  Speaker 1: the capital. Officials blamed the hack on Russian interference, but
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  Speaker 1: Russia also reported a cyber attack. The CBC's Anna Cunningham
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  Speaker 1: is in London. She's tracking this story for us, looking
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  Speaker 1: into those strange hacks. So, Anna, what more can you
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  Speaker 1: tell us about what has happened here?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Arthi, this is really unusual. Ukrainians, we know, are
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  Speaker 2: now quite used to hearing that ping of the air
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  Speaker 2: raid alerts on this app. But it was the content
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  Speaker 2: of these messages that made it different. It actually started
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  Speaker 2: just a few minutes before the end of that localised
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the city of Oleshky.
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  Speaker 2: There were four messages. They landed within three minutes. And
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  Speaker 2: the thing is, Ukrainians tend to watch out for what's
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  Speaker 2: called a red level air raid warning. That's usually for
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  Speaker 2: ballistics missile threats. And these were red alerts. But let's
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  Speaker 2: just talk you through exactly what they said. The first
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  Speaker 2: message warned of a radiation danger in Kyiv. It told
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  Speaker 2: people not to go outside. Now, that message was in Ukrainian.
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  Speaker 2: The second, which landed a minute later, said there was
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  Speaker 2: a nuclear alert going out across all of Ukraine. That
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  Speaker 2: message was in Russian. And the next two messages, Arfi,
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  Speaker 2: were sent at the same time, both in Ukrainian, one
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  Speaker 2: warning of a chemical alert and the other of street
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  Speaker 2: fighting in Kyiv. And they both said not to go outside.
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  Speaker 2: We know that all these messages were false. And I
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  Speaker 2: think the real giveaway for many people in Kyiv certainly
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  Speaker 2: was that the message was in Russian. That's when they
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  Speaker 2: became suspicious. But because people are so used to hearing
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  Speaker 2: the ping of that, some people actually choose not to
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  Speaker 2: have the app at all. They just rely on those
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  Speaker 2: nationwide loudspeakers with air raid siren alerts. Let's just take
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  Speaker 2: a listen to what one Ukrainian politician said about what
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  Speaker 2: happened last night.
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  Speaker 3: Your brain stopped reacting to, strongly at least, reacting to
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  Speaker 3: such even kind of fake alerts. Additionally, people tend to
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  Speaker 3: treat all kinds of information with a certain scepticism. We're
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  Speaker 3: trying to double check. For instance, we're using... not only
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  Speaker 3: these apps, but we are using also information coming from,
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  Speaker 3: for example, Telegram channels and so on. And luckily, in
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  Speaker 3: this case, in this particular case, there was a swift
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  Speaker 3: reaction from the Air Force saying that it was just
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  Speaker 3: a fake alert.
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  Speaker 2: Arthur, it's really unclear as to who was actually behind
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  Speaker 2: this cyber attack or indeed why it happened. We know
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  Speaker 2: a few hours after those false Ukraine alerts. Russian authorities
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  Speaker 2: said that its alert app had also been hacked. It
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  Speaker 2: described it as a massive cyber attack, Arthi.
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  Speaker 1: Now, meanwhile, Anna, two strikes were reported overnight in both countries.
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  Speaker 1: So what can you tell us about that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, both Russia and Ukraine carrying on strikes targeting energy
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  Speaker 2: sites such as oil refineries. We know that Russia, Russian
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  Speaker 2: forces hit Zafirisha in a desk. So there was a
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  Speaker 2: medical facility hit in central Kherson by a drone. The
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  Speaker 2: damage there really visible. The authorities in Ukraine saying that
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  Speaker 2: that frontline region of Kherson was hit by multiple Russian
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  Speaker 2: drone attacks earlier on today.
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  Speaker 1: That is the CBC's Anna Cunningham reporting.