Russian leader Vladimir Putin has seen his State TV channel experience a humiliating primetime hack, in which millions of his people were warned “the hour of reckoning has come.”
Cyber forces were able to hack into the network and broadcast the message via different broadcasters across Russia.
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The Sun in the UK reports that the video was made by Ukraine’s defence ministry, and included footage of the country’s own military advancements, before cutting to an on-screen warning “the hour of reckoning has come” – in Ukrainian.
Other channels were hacked around the same time, while six staff from Russian State TV had to be evacuated after an envelope containing white powder arrived at the station, causing a fear of poisoning.
Russia was previously hacked in June, when a reportedly “deepfake” Putin appeared to tell his audience that he was imposing martial law across certain regions in response to a Ukrainian incursion.
At the time, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted the “emergency appeal” was a hack, and officials pledged it would not happen again.
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