Poland’s Civic Platform party experienced a major cyberattack on Friday afternoon. The attack was a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) type. It targeted the political party’s main website. The police Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime is now handling this case. They confirmed various Polish public entities were indeed targets of this widespread attack. This incident highlights growing cybersecurity threats against political organizations in Poland. The timing, potentially near an election, raises significant concerns for officials.
Jan Grabiec, head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, reported the attack. He made the announcement on the X social media portal.
The DDoS attack temporarily disabled the Civic Platform’s primary website. A website for election campaign donations was also taken offline. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacted to the cyberattack later that afternoon. He stated a group of Russian hackers operating on Telegram was behind it. Websites of the Left and the Polish People’s Party were also targeted. Polish services are conducting intensive activities regarding this ongoing serious matter.
The police Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC) issued a statement.
They confirmed procedural activities are underway regarding Friday’s DDoS attacks. This includes receiving crime reports and conducting necessary interrogations. According to the CBZC, these attacks were directed at various public entities’ domains. Such actions constitute a crime under Article 269a of Poland’s Criminal Code. If significant property damage occurs, it is punishable by up to five years imprisonment. All collected materials will be forwarded to the Polish prosecutor’s office for further action.
Jan Grabiec further explained the nature of the DDoS attack to PAP. He said it blocks website access through a large number of visits. This causes the targeted website to freeze and become non-functional. As a preventive measure, their entire server was shut down to avoid further damage. They are now working to restore full functionality to the affected websites. This includes the platforma.org homepage and the donation form website. Grabiec expressed hope that this serious incident would not negatively affect the election campaign.
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