Skip to content
~/pwn.watch_

Get notified

Get an email when a new major security incident drops. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Only used for pwn.watch incident emails. Protected by Cloudflare Turnstile.

Become a sponsor

One slot: pwn.watch, gifs.so, flavors.design, kitze.io, every kitze repo, and an X shout-out.

YearlyBest value · save 44%$999/year$83.25/mo, billed yearly. Save $789 vs monthly (5+ months free).Monthly$149/monthBilled monthly. Cancel anytime.

Secure checkout on Polar. Right after paying you set up your ad on kitze.io.

← Breaches & attacks
LiveMediumPartly patchedBreaches & attacks

Kyiv Independent hacked: attackers used its CMS and newsletter service to email readers a fake nuclear attack warning

The Kyiv Independent website CMS and newsletter service

Brought to you byTinkerer Club

The private club for people who own their servers, run their own AI, and pay $0/month for software.

The Kyiv Independent, a Ukrainian English-language news outlet, said attackers gained access to its website's CMS (admin panel) and to one of the services it uses to send newsletters on the night of November 3 to 4. They used that access to email subscribers a Russian-language message falsely claiming a nuclear warhead had been launched toward Kyiv, and tried to publish similar messages on the website, which were removed. Editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko said the evidence points to a Russian operation and that the outlet is working to resolve the breach and strengthen its security. Readers have nothing to patch; treat the email as fake.

Why this severity: Account takeover of a news outlet's CMS and mailing service used for disinformation; no reported data theft so far

Started
Nov 4, 2026

Follow this incident

Discuss on X ↗

Affected

Not published yet

Fixed in

No fixed release yet

Timeline2

  1. Subscribers receive a fake Russian-language email claiming a nuclear warhead was launched at Kyiv; the Kyiv Independent says one of its systems was breached.

  2. Editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko says hackers got into the website's CMS and a newsletter service overnight, most likely a Russian operation.

News & write-ups2
Posts1
Olga Rudenko
@olya_rudenko

Since last night, @KyivIndependent has been under a hacker attack, most likely a Russian one. Last night, hackers gained access to our website’s CMS (admin panel) and to one of the services we use to send our newsletters. They used this access to send an email to addresses in

Get an email when a new major security incident drops. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Sponsored

Buy sponsor slot · $149/mo