2024-09-09 14:51 update: 2024-09-09, 21:58
Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell
Belarusian and Russian special services are waging a cyber war against Poland with the aim to paralyse the state, Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski and Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak have said.
Gawkowski told journalists at a press conference on Monday that the number of cybersecurity incidents has grown twofold over the past year.
Belarusian and Russian services have been active in Poland trying to obtain unauthorised access to information and then use it to blackmail individuals and institutions, which constitutes a de-facto cyber war, he explained. Gawkowski added that since January, more than a dozen people have been detained in connection with such cyberattacks.
"It began with POLADA (Polish Anti-Doping Agency), which (...) the services were trying to use as an entry point to other Polish institutions in local government, state companies that were connected to national security," Gawkowski said.
He went on to report that the August attack that was meant to cause political, military and business paralysis of the Polish state was foiled, by the joint efforts of the Internal Security Agency (ABW), the Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK) and the military, which Gawkowski described as a huge success.
Gawkowski said that both ministries, of digital affairs and interior, stepped up their coordination, and now are able to react in real time to cybersecurity incidents, such as the one involving the Polish Press Agency (PAP) back in May when they acted within minutes.
Siemoniak added that in response to recent events, both ministries and the whole government are planning to work together on updating electronic communication regulations. "We would also like the Polish authorities to know everything about, and have control over, the whole telecommunication transit through Poland," he said.
His and Gawkowski's ministries are working on a secure communication system for the Polish authorities and services, Siemoniak added.
Siemoniak mentioned that a week before the cabinet accepted a draft law on fighting terrorist content on-line. The law would give ABW the right to remove such content from the Internet in agreement with the deputy prosecutor general.(PAP)
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