Cyberattack on Poland's national Press Agency PAP

What turned out to be fake news of unknown origin appeared on the Polish Press Agency website and in its service on Friday. The entry informed of a partial military mobilization - supposedly announced by the country's Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The misinformation was quickly taken down, and officially denied by the Polish authorities and the Polish Press Agency itself.

Illustration Image

Franz Bachinger / Pixabay / CC0 License

The agency's management issued a statement on Friday evening confirming that the cyberattack did happen - informing about their cooperation with the Polish services and saying that they had identified and blocked the exploit used to introduce the false message into the PAP news service.

The case is currently being investigated by the country's Digital Affairs Ministry and Internal Security Agency. Although no information on the culprits was revealed yet, both the services and the hack victim suspect that the trail of evidence will lead to Russia.

📢 Depesza @PAPinformacje w sprawie częściowej mobilizacji do wojska to ❌ #fakenews.

✅ #PAP podkreśla, że nie jest źródłem informacji, która pojawiła się w piątek po godzinie 14:00 w ich serwisie. Depesza „Premier RP Donald Tusk: 1 lipca 2024r. zacznie się w Polsce częściowa… https://t.co/omasV4XyQf pic.twitter.com/tQpbH2uSLW

— 🔎 DEMAGOG (@DemagogPL) May 31, 2024

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that it is "yet another, very serious hacker attack - which well illustrates the Russian destabilization strategy on the eve of the European elections". He added that Polish services are prepared, though. "It is increasingly clear how important these elections are for us all" - the Prime Minister concluded.

Kolejny, bardzo groźny atak hakerski dobrze ilustruje rosyjską strategię destabilizacji w przeddzień wyborów europejskich. Polskie służby są przygotowane i działają pod nadzorem ministrów spraw wewnętrznych i cyfryzacji. Coraz wyraźniej widać, jak ważne są dla nas te wybory.

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) May 31, 2024

"The most important thing is that we managed to notice and stop this attack - reacting within minutes. This shows a good coordination between the services and the Prime Minister" - emphasized Poland's Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, in his Polish Radio interview. He added that similar incidents have been increasing recently.

We are supporting the media in providing factually correct information.

Until 15 June, @EU_Eurostat offers a fact-checking service for requests on the #EUelections2024.

Journalists and fact-checkers can receive responses within 1 hour from data available in Eurostat's database.

— European Commission (@EU_Commission) May 25, 2024

Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the Minister Coordinator of Poland's Special Services, told Polish Radio that it was most likely a Russian disinformation operation. He confirmed that the case is being investigated by the Internal Security Agency, although he cannot reveal the details yet.

Maciej Karczyński, a former spokesman of Poland's Internal Security Agency,  emphasized that due to the geopolitical situation in the region, similar incidents and attempts at disinformation may occur more and more often in Poland - so a detailed verification of each information is of utmost importance.

Jarosław Bartniczuk, a Business Center Club cybersecurity expert, added on Polish Radio 24 that fake news is an effective and dangerous element of war - used to scare the society and, above all, divide it.

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Source: IAR