Hackers ordered all available taxis in Moscow to cause huge traffic jam

Technical | With the help of the mobile app, booking a taxi has become very easy and you can order a taxi at any place you want. However, a case of hacking one such app causing long traffic jams has come to light in Moscow, the capital of Russia. After hacking Russia's ride booking app Yandex Taxi, the attacker ordered dozens of taxis at the same place at one time, due to which there was a situation of traffic jam. The incident took place on 1 September in Kutuzovsky Prospekt, a place that is still busy with traffic.

A video of a long traffic jam in Moscow is being widely shared on Twitter and Reddit platforms. One account tweeted this video and wrote that someone hacked the Yandex taxi app and called all the available taxis at one place and there was a huge traffic jam. In this tweet, the user wrote that it is a sight like a James Bond movie, because till now it has been seen only in films.

Traffic jam situation persisted for about 40 minutes

Yandex Taxi said in a statement to the Russian government-owned outlet TASS, "On the morning of September 1, hackers attacked the services of Yandex Taxi and bulk orders dozens of drivers in the Philly area." Russian internet company Yandex's taxi service said the traffic jam lasted for about 40 minutes. It has claimed that its algorithms have been improved while making necessary changes to prevent such attacks in future, so that users can get the right taxi-booking experience.

This hacking group took responsibility for the attack

Yandex has not yet confirmed who was responsible for the attack. However, a hacker group named Anonymous has claimed responsibility for this traffic jam on Twitter. The group is said to work closely with the Ukrainian military's IT team and was formed with the help of Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailo Fedorov after Russia's incursion into Ukraine.

Hackers warned of waging cyber war

The hacking group Anonymous had warned of a cyber war against Russia earlier this year. The group claimed to have hijacked several Russian TV channels and played video footage of the war, which was considered illegal in Russia. This group has also stolen a lot of data of Russian government agencies and is running a cyber campaign against Russia.