Hackers allegedly linked to Russia's intelligence services have launched a cyberattack on the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Disinformation was posted about the alleged mobilisation in the country to send 200,000 Poles to Ukraine.
Russian hackers launched a fake about mobilisation in Poland
The perpetrators twice placed in the PAP system a message about the mobilisation of 200,000 Poles in the country in the near future, with their further sending to Ukraine.
The PAP deleted these notes, calling them fake, the Polish government has already noted that it is a hacking attack by the Russian Federation.
Everything points to the fact that we are dealing with a cyber attack directed from the Russian side. The goal is disinformation before the elections and paralysing society, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digitalisation of Poland Krzysztof Gawkowski said on Polsat News.
After deleting the fake message, which appeared in the system twice — at 15:00 and 15:20 (Kyiv time), the PAP management reported that the note "was not prepared in the agency".
The special services of the country and the head of the government of the Republic of Poland, Donald Tusk, were informed about the incident.
In a fake message allegedly from the head of the Polish government, Tusk, the hackers wrote that from July 1 to November 1 of this year, a partial mobilization will be announced in Poland, as a result of which 200,000 people of various specialties, both former military personnel and those who previously did not serve in the army. Hackers wrote that they will all be sent to Ukraine to protect its territorial value.
The fake note contains grammatical errors, which may indicate that it was prepared by foreigners.
Europol arrested cybercriminals
The action, named "Operation "Final", was initiated and carried out by France, Germany and the Netherlands.
This is reported by Europol.
In addition, Armenia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland and Ukraine also supported the operation with various actions such as arrests, questioning of suspects, searches, and seizure or deletion of servers and domains.
Arrests were made in Armenia (one person) and Ukraine (three). More than 2,000 domains are currently under the control of law enforcement agencies.
According to the results of the days of actions of persons involved in this criminal activity and wanted by Germany, on May 30, 2024, they will be added to the European list of the most wanted persons. These individuals are wanted for involvement in serious cybercriminal activity.
Having carried out the largest international cyber police operation to date, law enforcement agencies have dealt a serious blow to the field of cybercrime, said Martina Link, vice president of the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany.
