Network of Russian and Belarusian saboteurs planning "cyber war" exposed in Poland
Polish intelligence services have uncovered a network of Russian and Belarusian cyber saboteurs who planned to infiltrate the country's national and local government systems to steal information.
Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitalisation, says Polish special services have recently managed to expose a group that had specific goals in Poland.
"In recent days, we have managed to expose a group that had specific goals in Poland and operated from a specific location," he said.
The minister emphasised that the goal of Russian and Belarusian intelligence services in Poland was to gather information for future blackmail and effectively conduct cyber warfare.
"It all started with Polada [the Polish Anti-Doping Agency] as part of a broader operational game of intelligence services, whose task was to find ways to penetrate other Polish institutions – both at the level of local government and state-owned companies related to the security sector,’ he said.
Gawkowski explained that the goal of the cyberattacks was "to cause political, military, and economic paralysis in Poland." He stated that Polish institutions had been warned by intelligence agencies, and swift action had prevented any data from being stolen.
The official reported that over 400,000 cyberattacks were registered in the first half of 2024, with Polish services undertaking around 100,000 actions to identify those responsible.
Gawkowski added that the number of cyber incidents increased by 100% compared to last year, with 370,000 recorded in the previous year.
The Estonian Security Police recently revealed, following a joint international operation, that a military unit under the command of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces had been carrying out cyberattacks against Ukraine, as well as NATO and EU countries, including Estonia.
A few days later, on 9 September, German intelligence service BfV issued a warning that a group of cybercriminals belonging to Russian military intelligence was behind a series of online attacks against NATO and EU countries.