Anonymous hacked Russian Yandex taxi app causing massive traffic jam

Russia has been one of the prime targets of hackers since the country waged war against Ukraine. The latest attack was targeted against a ride-hailing service Yandex Taxi. The news was first published on Reddit.com.

For your information, Yandex Taxi is owned by Yandex, Russia’s leading IT corporation, also called Russian Google. It is worth noting that the EU sanctioned the company’s co-founder Arkady Volozh for “de-ranking and removing” content related to Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Incident Details

After hacking the Yandex Taxi app, the unknown hackers created a massive traffic jam in Moscow, Russia. On September 1st, 2022, motorist complaints emerged after they witnessed an unusual accumulation of taxis in the Russian capital’s western area.

What happened was that the attackers ordered all available taxis to a particular address, and an unprecedented traffic jam ensued as dozens of Yandex drivers were stuck due to being in the exact location.

According to Forbes Russia, the cabs were directed to one of the main avenues in Moscow, Kutuzovsky Prospekt, which is widely known for the Stalinist-era building called Hotel Ukraina (Hotel Ukraine).

The traffic jam lasted three hours. Yandex’s security team quickly addressed the standstill and promised to improve the algorithm to prevent such attacks in the future.

“On the morning of September 1, Yandex Taxi encountered an attempt by attackers to disrupt the service — several dozen drivers received bulk orders to the Fili region,” the press service noted. Due to fake orders, drivers spent about 40 minutes in a traffic jam.

Forbes Russia

Who’s Responsible for the Hack?

The online hacktivist collective Anonymous has taken the responsibility for the cyber attack. In an exclusive conversation with Hackread.com, one of the collective’s active Twitter handles @YourAnonTV (Anonymous TV) said that the attack was carried out by anonymous in cooperation with the IT Army of Ukraine. (We have contacted the IT Army of Ukraine on Twitter for comment).

Anonymous breached the app, sending dozens of cars to the exact location, forming a traffic jam that lasted up to three hours.

Anonymous

‼️#Moscow had a stressful day yesterday. The largest taxi service in Russia ‘Yandex Taxi’ was hacked by the #Anonymous collective. A traffic jam took place in the center of Moscow when dozens of taxi were sent by the hackers to the address on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. #OpRussia pic.twitter.com/6fp1hp0f7r

— Anonymous TV 🇺🇦 (@YourAnonTV) September 2, 2022

How Did the Breach Happen?

According to Oleg Shakirov, a Russian cyber policy expert, someone hacked the Yandex app and did a frustrating mix-up of taxis. The hackers bypassed the company’s security mechanisms and created multiple bogus orders, sending all the drivers to the same place.