back to article Internet pranksters send hundreds of cabs to Moscow street, cause gridlock

The taxi offshoot of troubled Russian tech giant Yandex has been hit by online pranksters, who yesterday ordered dozens of cabs to a single address in central Moscow, resulting in a major traffic jam. Kutuzovsky prospekt Kutuzovsky Prospekt sporting its usual weekday traffic Whether it was a hack or simply gaming the Yandex …

  1. DJV Silver badge

    Algorithm

    The company’s “algorithm for detecting and preventing such attacks has already been improved,” the spokesperson confidently predicted.

    Hmmm, I bet the truth was probably closer to:

    The company’s “algorithm for detecting and preventing such attacks has now been hastily written and implemented,” the spokesperson nervously stated.

    P.S. == Bring Dabbsy back ! ==

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Re: Algorithm

      > P.S. == Bring Dabbsy back ! ==

      I keep seeing this... has he eloped with Paris?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Gimp

        Re: Algorithm

        Potemkine is the perpetrator of this. I might start signing off as such too.

        Dabbsy is still available on his own web site - search "autosave is for wimps". He has more likely eloped to Paris rather than with 'er. He lives in France.

        Oh, why not:

        == Bring Dabbsy back ! ==

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Algorithm

          So I signed up for substack to read of the adventures of the Dabbs in the mythical land of France.

          When I went back I seemed to have been subscribed to a dozen christian nut-jobs (but I repeat myself) sites.

          Is this normal on substack? Or did I just fail to select an option to deselect the option to select.....

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Algorithm

            Best to use a throwaway email or click on the link to read the content first.

    2. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: Algorithm

      I read it as a call to arms; a bunch of people have now gone "challenge accepted!"

  2. Commswonk

    What fresh hell is this...

    Thank you for the Dorothy Parker quotation.

    A pleasant surprise to find her quoted on El Reg.

    1. David 132 Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: What fresh hell is this...

      Indeed. Seconded. And in this brief interlude of DP recognition, may I offer my own favourite Parker-attributed quote?

      “Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,

      A medley of extemporanea;

      And love is a thing that can never go wrong;

      And I am Marie of Romania.”

      1. Jedit Silver badge
        Joke

        "And I am Marie of Romania"

        Or on the dating site Parkr, "and I am Marie, from Romania".

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Waving at Putin

    Next is sending in 100s reservations for 100s separate destinations on the outskirts, followed an hour later by 100s destinations innercity, ... and repeat. Let's call it the Putin pucker.

    1. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge

      Re: Waving at Putin

      It'd be funny, but it's naive to think this would remotely inconvenience Putin or his inner circle. Sadly it'd just make life worse for the peons who don't have any choice but to do as they're told.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Waving at Putin

        re. in theory, performed at the right point, it might jam the centre of the city as the politburo (Putin & Co) are trying to get through.

        ...

        unfortunately, there's this pesky 'dictator' lane to thwart such efforts. And then, helicopters...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Waving at Putin

      It would have been much better to create a traffic jam on a road which Putin's motorcade was travelling on, and arrange a little, or not so little, surprise.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Waving at Putin

        I think you may have fallen into one of Webb and Mitchell's Needlessly ambiguous terms :-)

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6cake3bwnY

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    in other news

    all yandex execs performed (executed?) a synchro-free fall from the top floor...

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: in other news

      free fall from the top floor...

      ...of a hospital. Seems to be a particular hazard in Russia.

      1. The commentard formerly known as Mister_C Silver badge

        Re: in other news

        I wonder how many emergency glaziers could be called out to Moscow hospitals.

        Or how many Corgi registered plumbers could be called out to fix a broken gas pipe.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Windows

      Re: in other news

      Falling out of a window of a hospital is "dying of natural causes" in Russia. Sir Pterry employed similar plot devices as comedy (+3 inciteful) many years ago and it's just as fresh today.

      By the way, do avoid the tea - it's laced with polonium.

      Knock, knock

      who's .... aaaarg ....

      lol - nerve toxin on the door but Salisbury Cathedral has a 123.00543m high spire - I'm a tourist and not a nasty poisoner at all!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: in other news

        Tragic! Ah, yes, almost as tragic as Archbishop Bertram being struck by a falling gargoyle off Beachy Head.

        Quite.

        And nearly as tragic as poor Archbishop Wilfred falling backwards onto the spire of Norwich Cathedral.

        1. David 132 Silver badge

          Re: in other news

          "I just don't know how I'm going to break it to his catamite!"

          Blackadder quotes are a cheap, risk-free way to farm upvotes round here :)

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: in other news

            That's why I did it AC

          2. Korev Silver badge
            Thumb Up

            Re: in other news

            Well it worked, sadly I could only give you one*

            * Excuse me, I seem to have gone a bit Flashheart

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: in other news

      I have a vague idea I saw this before... Monty Python perchance?!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: in other news

        there:

        www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAkvM0Tzd3I

        all you need is re-create the dialogue, in fake Russian...

    4. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: in other news

      must be their BOFH...

  5. Danny 2

    99 pizzas

    Have they tried sending endless pizzas to Putin? Or maybe SWATting the Kremlin, making use of the militarised US police.

    1. that one in the corner Silver badge

      Re: 99 pizzas

      > SWATting the Kremlin

      How do you avoid half of them just overrunning the town of Kremlin in Oklahoma whilst the other half charge off to Moscow, Idaho?

      (Had to Google for those two, but I just knew that they'd exist somewhere in the USA)

      1. dajames

        Moscow

        ... the other half charge off to Moscow, Idaho?

        (Had to Google for those two, but I just knew that they'd exist somewhere in the USA)

        You don't need to look so far afield, there's a Moscow in Ayrshire.

        1. that one in the corner Silver badge

          Re: Moscow

          Yeah, but phoning up and getting UK bobbies to pop round for a chat, see if everything is okay, your neighbour was a bit concerned doesn't have quite the same impact as US cops in full military gear going "hut".

  6. Winkypop Silver badge
    Coat

    One minute there’s no cabs

    Then dozens all show up at once!!!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Same old... Same old...

    This is just a tech based 21st century based twist on an old trick where innocent delivery/logistics companies get caught in the crossfire of a turf war or dirty tricks campaign.

    I saw first hand examples where a local business with a busy forecourt had a series of denial of service attacks instigated by an assumed rival, who had ordered for the victim business on various occasions bulk deliveries by many different companies of timber, aggregate, ready mix concrete, skips or dumpsters, pizzas, wine, plants, and I forget what else. The world was more trusting at the backend of the last century, and ordering deliveries or services for cash on delivery wasn't an issue.

    I was able to see on many occasions the chaos erupt from an office across the street as not only the forecourt but the street usually got blocked with every local merchants delivery lorry descending upon the address - and the poor business owner ending up shrugging their shoulders and commiserating with the delivery drivers, and occasionally the delivery drivers getting a bit fiesty with their local rivals as well. The office lost many hours gazing out of the window at the pantomime unfolding across the street. I think it was the skip/dumpster drivers that ended up with a fist fight and the police being called to clean up.

    I am not sure whether they ever worked out who was really responsible, but it just goes to show that these Yandex whippersnappers are just replaying old tricks

  8. pc-fluesterer.info
    Megaphone

    Uber

    Perhaps it is worth mentioning that "Yandex Taxi" is a joint venture of Yandex and Uber, founded after Uber withdraw from Russia in 2017.

  9. Potemkine! Silver badge

    Putin tries to hide everything that may help Russians to think about the state of their Nation.

    With such a prank, it's a visible display something goes wrong. That may not be a prank after all, but a wake-up call

    == Bring Dabbsy back! ==

  10. PassiveSmoking

    You know, they really missed an opportunity here. They should have sent all the taxis to Crimea instead, at least they could help with the inevitable evacuation when the Ukrainians come to take back what's theirs.

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