Key points
- Drone attacks damaged three Yandex data centers in Russia, shutting down two and degrading one.
- Users report inability to access cloud files, with services like Monium completely offline.
- Yandex states it cannot provide a reliable timeline for full service restoration.
Yandex, a major Russian technology provider, confirmed that drone attacks damaged three of its data centers, forcing the shutdown of two facilities and partial disablement of a third. The incidents in Sasovo, Kaluga, and Vladimir have caused significant service outages for cloud users.
According to BleepingComputer, the Sasovo facility was hit on October 8 and stopped operating completely. The Kaluga site was struck on October 9, resulting in degraded operations, while the Vladimir facility was attacked on October 11 and also ceased operations. Yandex reported no injuries from these physical strikes.
Infrastructure Status and Impact
Yandex stated that its teams are working around the clock but cannot provide a reliable timeline for restoring services. The company described the remaining resource configuration as unstable and placed the platform in emergency mode. Technical support channels may also be unstable, according to Yandex status updates.
Cyber Security News reported that some users experienced missing thumbnails and failed downloads for previously uploaded files on Yandex Disk starting October 8. One customer reported HTTP 302 redirects, 504 Gateway Timeout errors, and 500 errors, though it remains unclear if any data was permanently lost.
Affected Services and Recommendations
Yandex Cloud services show mixed availability. The Console, API, IAM, Container Registry, databases, S3 storage, and Kubernetes are available but face performance issues. Compute, AI Studio, and security services are partially available. Monium remains offline. Yandex urged customers to use alternative infrastructure for disaster recovery due to the unstable state of its resources.
Next steps
Yandex continues to assess equipment damage at the three sites. Engineers are working day and night to maintain services, but the company has not guaranteed current availability of any specific service. Customers are advised to monitor official status pages for updates and rely on backup systems where possible.
What to do and how to stay safe: Yandex
- Verify if your critical workloads rely on Yandex Cloud or Yandex Disk and check their current availability status.
- Activate alternative disaster recovery plans or migrate critical data to secondary cloud providers to ensure business continuity.
- Monitor technical support channels for updates, but expect potential instability in communication with Yandex support teams.
- Review backup integrity for any data stored on Yandex Disk, as some users reported issues with file retrieval and thumbnails.
Step-by-step guide: MFA Misconceptions That Leave Cloud Accounts Exposed
General security guidance from the SecOps Monitor newsroom. It is not confirmed advice from the organisations named in this story.
Frequently asked questions
Which Yandex data centers were damaged by drone attacks?
The Sasovo, Kaluga, and Vladimir data centers were damaged, with Sasovo and Vladimir shutting down completely and Kaluga experiencing degraded operations.
Is Yandex providing a timeline for service restoration?
No, Yandex stated it cannot provide a reliable service-restoration timeline and described the remaining resources as unstable.
Are there reports of permanent data loss for users?
While users reported inability to download files and missing thumbnails, Yandex has not confirmed whether any customer data was permanently lost.
