2023-05-18 12:15 update: 2023-05-18, 21:00
Janusz Cieszynski. Photo PAP/Marian Zubrzycki
The government Plenipotentiary for Cybersecurity, Janusz Cieszynski, told PAP that having prior information on Thursday's hacker attack on a number of Polish media websites, all relevant editorial offices were given advance warning and could react to the situation.
On Thursday morning, there was an attack by Russian hacker groups, including on Polish information portals. The hackers allegedly attacked the following websites: Polityka.pl, niezalezna.pl, ceneo.pl, Wyborcza.pl, rp.pl, se.pl, wpolityce.pl, straight.pl, as well as login.gremimedia.pl (rp.pl and parkiet.com) and login.wyborcza.pl. Some of the websites reported temporary difficulties with accessing their services.
"Having information that such attacks were being prepared, we immediately informed all interested editorial offices so that they had the opportunity to react to this situation. I am glad that we have such information at least some time in advance," Cieszynski said and confirmed that Russian hackers were behind the attacks.
"The fact that even large news media can fall victim to such attacks proves that everyone with an online presence and derives their income from this presence should think about how to protect themselves against DDoS attacks," Cieszynski said adding that "It's not something you can't fight, but you have to be prepared for it".
He reminded that DDoS attacks are attacks that prevent ordinary users from accessing a given website due to the very high traffic generated by hackers. (PAP)
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