On Thursday, Ukrainian media group TAVR Media confirmed that they suffered a cyberattack. The aim was to spread fake news that President Zelensky was in critical condition and under intensive care.
According to the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSCIP), the network operates nine major Ukrainian radio stations, including Hit FM, Radio ROKS, KISS FM, Radio RELAX, Melody FM, Nashe Radio, Radio JAZZ, Classic Radio, and Radio Bayraktar.
In an official statement, the company said it experienced a cyber attack on the servers and networks of TAVR Media radio stations on Friday. To quell the effects of fake news, the president shared on his Instagram account that he is well.
He also linked the disinformation to Russian threat actors. Zelensky maintained that Russia launched more fake news that the (Ukrainian) state is not controlled by him but he is well and in his office.
The radio network firm further stressed that no information about the health problems of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is true.
The Ukrainian Stratcom Center, the country’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, also warned in early March that Russia could use deepfake videos that “are almost impossible to distinguish from the real ones,” generated using machine learning algorithms.
One month before that, Facebook also took down accounts used by the ghostwriter Belarusian-linked hacking group to target Ukrainian officials and military personnel and for spreading videos portraying Ukrainian soldiers surrendering to the Russian army.
