Poland foils attack on city water system amid ‘ongoing’ cyberwar with Russia
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Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski indirectly blamed Russia for the attack in a post on X.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- Poland thwarted a cyberattack targeting a large city's water system, potentially preventing widespread disruption.
- Deputy PM Gawkowski suggests Russian involvement, highlighting cyber warfare through digital attacks on critical infrastructure.
- Poland claims a 99% success rate in foiling cyberattacks amidst arrests of individuals linked to Russian intelligence.
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WARSAW - Poland foiled a cyber attack against the water and sewage system of a “large city”, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said on Aug 14, adding that a cyberwar with Russia was “ongoing”.
“At the last minute, we managed to ensure that when the attack began, our (security) services found out about it and we shut everything down.
“We managed to mitigate it,” Mr Gawkowski told web portal Onet.pl, speaking of the attack which took place on Aug 13.
“Yesterday, it was possible to end up in a situation in which one of the larger cities would have been left without water,” he added, refusing to name the city in question in order not to “stir up people’s emotions”.
Mr Gawkowski, who is also the Minister of Digital Affairs, did not indicate who might be the perpetrators of the attack, but in a post on X, he referred to Russian hostility.
“No Russian planes will fly into Warsaw nor will tanks roll in – instead, their digital counterparts will appear,” he wrote.
“The first stage of such an attack may involve attempts to cut us off from water, gas and electricity, paralyse communications or halt logistics,” he added.
According to Mr Gawkowski, Poland, which invests heavily in cyber security, currently foils 99 per cent of cyber attacks.
On Aug 13, the Polish national prosecutor’s office said that it had charged three Poles and three Belarusians suspected of sabotage on behalf of “foreign intelligence services”.
A Ukrainian citizen accused of acts of sabotage, “recruited by foreign services”, was also arrested that day, according to Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
In July, Mr Tusk told reporters that Poland had so far detained 32 people suspected of “cooperating with Russian intelligence services”. AFP
