On 9 October, widespread disruptions to Yandex services were reported in Russia following two drone attacks on the company’s data centres. Users are complaining of problems with search functions, food delivery and app performance. The company has officially confirmed disruptions to its «Alisa» voice assistant and smart home devices. Some functions have become unavailable, and responses from the neural network are delayed.
Briefly about the main points
- On 9 October, disruptions to Yandex services were reported in Russia.
- Users are complaining about the food search and delivery services.
- Some of the features of the «Alice» voice assistant are unavailable.
- This was caused by damage to two data centres.
Yandex services have stopped working properly in Russia«
Problems began to be reported following the attack on data centre in Kaluga 9 October. According to outage monitoring services, users are reporting difficulties accessing the search engine and «Yandex Food». Over the past 24 hours, more than 1,800 complaints have been received regarding the search engine, whilst the delivery service has received hundreds of reports.
There were some glitches with the «Yandex Go» app. In particular, The Kaluga authorities have reported difficulties with paying for public transport Approximately 30% of its users use this service. However, there has been no confirmation that the taxi-booking service has ceased operations entirely across Russia.
«Alice» is not responding: the company has confirmed the issues
Later that afternoon, the «Alice» team officially announced that there were technical issues. Some of the neural network’s features are temporarily unavailable, and it may take longer than usual to process requests.
The disruptions have also affected Yandex Station smart speakers. Users may experience delays in responses and intermittent performance of their smart home devices.
Two Yandex data centres have been damaged following attacks
Major technical problems arose following two consecutive attacks on the company’s server infrastructure. On the night of 8 October, drones attacked data centre in Sasovo in the Ryazan Region. A fire broke out there, following which the company ceased operations entirely.
The following day, a data centre in Kaluga came under attack. Several of its modules were completely knocked out.
Yandex has acknowledged that restoring its infrastructure is a complex task. The company is not yet able to give a date for when the damaged equipment will be fully back in operation.
