Key points
- Three data centres sustained physical damage from drone attacks, with two ceasing operations entirely.
- Yandex Cloud services including Kubernetes and databases experienced availability issues and instability.
- The vendor has not provided a timeline for full restoration or confirmed permanent data loss.
Yandex Cloud is operating in emergency mode after drone attacks physically damaged three of its data centres in Russia. The incidents have caused widespread service disruptions for both consumer cloud storage and enterprise infrastructure customers.
What happened
Yandex confirmed that drone attacks struck its infrastructure across three locations in Russia, leading to a major service outage. The first incident occurred at the Sasovo data centre during the night of 7 to 8 October 2026, causing serious damage and a complete cessation of operations at that site. A second attack hit the Kaluga facility on 9 October, disabling part of its infrastructure.
A third strike targeted the Vladimir location overnight on 11 October, halting operations there as well. Yandex stated that no injuries occurred during these events. Emergency teams and company specialists were present at the damaged sites to assess the equipment, though the company noted that assessment remained difficult.
Why it matters
The physical destruction of hosting infrastructure has exposed significant reliability issues for users relying on Yandex Cloud services. Yandex Disk users reported missing thumbnails, failed downloads of previously uploaded files, and HTTP errors including 302 redirects, 504 Gateway Timeouts, and 500 errors starting on 8 October. These technical failures indicate that some stored content could not be retrieved through normal service requests, although failed downloads do not confirm that files have been permanently deleted. Whether any customer data has been lost remains unclear, and Yandex had not addressed this specific question in its status updates.
The disruption extended to business cloud tools, with the Yandex Cloud console, API, identity management, container registry, databases, S3 storage, and Kubernetes experiencing performance or availability issues. Compute, AI Studio, and security services were only partly available, while Monium remained completely offline. Yandex described its remaining cloud resources as unstable and warned that technical support channels could also be unreliable. The company urged customers to utilise alternative disaster recovery plans due to the ongoing emergency mode operation.
What happens next
- Monitor Yandex Cloud status pages for updates on service restoration timelines.
- Verify the integrity of critical data stored in Yandex Disk and Cloud storage.
- Activate alternative disaster recovery plans for affected business services.
- Expect continued instability in technical support channels during the assessment phase.
Patch priority
Teams usually prioritise systems with the highest business exposure when facing infrastructure instability. In this scenario, focus on confirming the availability of critical databases and storage services first. Check whether alternative disaster recovery plans are functional and ready to deploy. Back up any accessible data immediately to ensure preservation while the vendor assesses physical damage.
Test connectivity to essential APIs and identity management services to determine current operational limits. Reduce reliance on affected platforms by shifting non-essential workloads to stable environments. Communicate clearly with stakeholders about potential delays and data retrieval issues. Avoid assuming data loss based on initial access errors, but prepare for worst-case scenarios.
What to do and how to stay safe: Yandex Cloud
- Verify the integrity of critical data stored in Yandex Disk and Cloud storage immediately.
- Activate alternative disaster recovery plans for any business services currently running on Yandex Cloud.
- Monitor official status pages for updates on service restoration and data availability.
- Prepare for potential extended outages by reducing reliance on affected platforms for non-essential tasks.
Step-by-step guide: How MFA Secures Cloud Accounts: Mechanisms and Trade-offs
General security guidance from the AppSec Scoop newsroom. It is not confirmed advice from the organisations named in this story.
Frequently asked questions
Has Yandex confirmed any permanent data loss from the drone attacks?
No, Yandex has not confirmed whether any customer data has been permanently lost, though some users reported failed downloads.
Which Yandex Cloud services are currently affected by the outage?
Services including Kubernetes, databases, S3 storage, and identity management experienced issues, while Monium remained offline.
What is the current status of the damaged data centres?
Two facilities in Sasovo and Vladimir stopped operating completely, while the Kaluga facility lost part of its infrastructure.
