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Poland says cyberattacks on critical infrastructure rising, blames Russia
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 10, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 10, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Poland reports a rise in cyberattacks on its infrastructure, primarily linked to Russia. The energy sector is a new target, with 2,000 to 4,000 incidents daily.
By Barbara Erling
WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland's critical infrastructure has been subject to a growing number of cyberattacks by Russia, whose military intelligence, has trebled its resources for such action against Poland this year, the country's digital affairs minister told Reuters.
Of the 170,000 cyber incidents that have been identified in the first three quarters of this year, a significant portion has been attributed to Russian actors, while other cases are financially motivated, involving theft or other forms of cybercrime, Krzysztof Gawkowski said.
He said Poland is a subject to between 2,000 and 4,000 incidents a day and that 700 to 1,000 are "taken up by us, meaning they posed a real threat or had the potential to cause serious problems", he said.
Foreign adversaries are now expanding their focus beyond water and sewage systems to the energy sector, he said.
He did not give exact figures for Russian activity and could not comment on Russia's methods in Poland's cyberspace. The information on Russia's increasing involvement had come from intelligence from Poland's intelligence agencies.
Russia has consistently denied claims of such activity. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately return a request for comment.
Officials in Warsaw have said Poland, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, is Russia's main target among NATO states and has accused the Kremlin of repeated efforts to undermine national security.
"Russian activity is the most severe because it targets critical infrastructure essential to maintaining normal life," Gawkowski said.
Along with the Russian drone attack on September 10, there was a correlated cyberattack on Poland, the largest since 2022, when the war broke out in Ukraine, he said.
Although the government saw from the early hours of the night that the drone attack was coming from Russia, false claims that Ukraine sent the drones to start war, flooded Polish cyberspace, Gawkowski said.
He added that to do this, bots that had remained dormant for months, even years were reactivated.
(Reporting by Barbara Erling)
Cybersecurity refers to the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks. These attacks often aim to access, change, or destroy sensitive information.
Financial crime encompasses a range of illegal activities that involve fraud, money laundering, and other financial misconduct aimed at gaining financial benefits.
Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, and controlling threats to an organization's capital and earnings. This includes financial, operational, and reputational risks.
Critical infrastructure refers to the essential systems and assets that are vital for the functioning of a society and economy, including transportation, energy, and communication systems.
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