2024-06-03 15:05 update: 2024-06-05, 18:05
Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara
The Polish government wants to allocate more than PLN 3 billion (EUR 700 million) for new investments in cybersecurity, Minister of Digitalisation Krzysztof Gawkowski has announced.
"The joint activities of the government, of the ministries - of interior and digitalisation - will be directed towards new investments in cyber security." Gawkowski said at a press conference on Monday.
"We want to allocate more than PLN 3 billion for the 'cybershield', which will be a guarantee for the security of Poles," he continued. "It is to be a 'cybershield' that will carry out regular security reviews, build resilience at the level of critical infrastructure."
According to Gawkowski, all these elements will show that Poland is the leader of digital change in Europe, and at the same time the leader of digital security.
He also said Poland had recently been intercepting Russian cyberattacks in Poland.
"Last night and on Sunday we prevented several incidents across Poland which had the characteristics of a coordinated attack on critical infrastructure," Gawkowski said.
"Poland today is no longer in a cold, but in some elements in a hot cyber war with Russia. This can be seen very well from how both the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and the National Research Institute (NASK) are working."
He pointed out that steps had been taken in the government's security committee to address cybersecurity, but are classified as restricted.
On Friday last week, PAP was attacked by hackers who managed to publish a fake announcement about a partial military mobilisation in Poland through the agency's news feed.
On Monday, Gawkowski confirmed that it was a "planned attack" by Russia, and he expects such attempts at undermining Poland's critical infrastructure and spreading disinformation to continue, especially in the days leading up to the European parliament elections on June 9. (PAP)
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