JAKARTA Hackers have caused major traffic jams on the streets of Moscow, after they exploited the Russian ride-hailing app, Yandex Taxi. The hackers called dozens of taxis to the same location at the same time. The attack occurred on September 1 and traffic towards the prospect of the Paluzovsky, a busy highway became jammed.
A video showing a row of taxis that appear to be trying to achieve the same goal was widely shared on Twitter and Reddit on Thursday, August 31. Meanwhile, Moscow is known for its dense traffic. The Russian capital is ranked number two as the world's most congested city last year. However, this incident is not related to the typical traffic pattern of the capital city.
In the morning, September 1, Yandex.Taxi faced an attempt by attackers to disrupt services that caused several dozen drivers to receive mass orders to the Fili region," Yandex spokesman Polina Pestova said in a statement to The Verge.
Someone hacked #YandexTaxi and ordered all available taxis to Kutuzov Prospect in Moscow Now there is a huge traffic jam with taxis. It‘s like James Bond movie. pic.twitter.com/IatuAEtA2i
— Russian Market (@runews) September 1, 2022
The ride-hailing service, which is owned by Russian internet giant Yandex, added that congestion lasts less than an hour, and that an algorithm to detect and prevent such attacks has been stepped up to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Yandex has not confirmed who carried out the attack, but hacker group Anonymous, claimed responsibility for the traffic jams on Twitter. They claimed to have worked with the Ukrainian IT Army, a loosely organized hacker group formed by Ukrainian prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov when Russia first invaded Ukraine.
Anthony declared a "viral war" against Russia earlier this year, and later claimed to have hijacked Russian TV channels with footage of war deemed "illegal" in the country.
Since then, hackers have leaked terabyte-worth data and emails belonging to the country's government agency and large companies as part of an ongoing cyber campaign against Russia.
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