Key points
- Drone attacks damaged three Yandex data centers in Sasovo, Kaluga, and Vladimir, forcing partial or full shutdowns.
- Yandex reported no injuries but stated its remaining infrastructure is unstable, with no reliable timeline for full restoration.
- Customers are urged to use alternative infrastructure, as services like Monium remain offline while others face performance issues.
Russian cloud provider Yandex confirmed that drone attacks damaged three of its data centers, forcing the company to shut down two facilities completely and partially disable a third. According to BleepingComputer, the strikes occurred in Sasovo on October 8, Kaluga on October 9, and Vladimir on October 11. These physical disruptions have caused significant service outages for customers relying on Yandex’s cloud infrastructure.
In plain English
Yandex customers are currently unable to access some files stored on the company’s cloud platforms. The Sasovo and Vladimir facilities have stopped operating entirely, while the Kaluga site is running with degraded capabilities. Yandex stated that its teams are working around the clock to maintain services, but the company cannot provide a reliable timeline for when full operations will resume. The situation remains volatile.
The background
Yandex is often described as Russia’s largest technology company, providing search, maps, ride-hailing, and business cloud infrastructure. Much of the country’s internet infrastructure, serving both government and private-sector organizations, relies on these services. The attacks are believed to have been carried out by Ukrainian forces aiming to cause widespread operational disruptions. Yandex reported no injuries related to these incidents.
What changes now
Yandex has urged customers to use alternative infrastructure for disaster recovery, citing an unstable resource configuration. On its status page, the company noted that technical-supported communication channels can be unstable. While services like Console, API, and S3 storage remain available with some performance issues, others like Monium are still offline. Compute and AI Studio services are only partially available.
What to do and how to stay safe: Yandex
- Verify if your critical data resides on Yandex cloud platforms and check for recent backup integrity issues, such as missing thumbnails or download failures.
- Activate pre-established disaster recovery plans that utilize alternative infrastructure providers to ensure business continuity during prolonged outages.
- Monitor Yandex’s official status page for updates on service restoration, as the company has indicated no reliable timeline for full recovery.
- Ensure that your organization’s communication channels have fallback options, as Yandex warned that technical-supported channels may be unstable.
General security guidance from the Patch Herald newsroom. It is not confirmed advice from the organisations named in this story.
Frequently asked questions
Which specific Yandex services are currently affected by the outages?
Monium is offline, while Compute, AI Studio, and security services are partially available; other services like Console and S3 storage have performance issues.
Did the drone attacks cause any injuries at the data centers?
No, Yandex reported no injuries related to the incidents at the Sasovo, Kaluga, and Vladimir facilities.
When will Yandex services be fully restored?
Yandex has not provided a reliable service-restoration timeline and considers its remaining resource configuration to be unstable.
