DISINFO: There is no evidence of Russian involvement in a cyber-attack against Poland
SUMMARY
The Polish accusations against Russia of cyberattacks are not supported by any evidence. Warsaw perceives the groundless accusations against Russia of an alleged “large-scale cyber-attack on Polish politicians in order to destabilise the country” as something obvious.
The statement of Kaczyński [about the cyber-attack] was made one day before the EU Summit in Brussels (discussing the new EU strategy on Russia) and the July reunion of the ruling Polish party – it is improper to speculate who benefits from these statements.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative denying any involvement of the Russian government and special services in hacker attacks and hostile actions against foreign countries in cyber-space.
Throughout 2021, over 100 Polish state officials and politicians faced an intense cyber-attack – the hackers managed to steal personal and official correspondence of Michał Dworczyk, Head of Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister. According to the information of the Polish special services, these hacking activities were realised from the territory of Russia.
Russian state actors have been proven to be actively involved in cyber-warfare, including malicious cyberattacks and hacking of foreign states and entities. The targets of Russian state-sponsored / -supported cyber-attacks have included: Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Ukraine, UK, US, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Romania, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the Davos World Economic Forum.
Since 2014 Ukraine has been the target of an unprecedented number of cyberattacks. Ukraine’s security services attributed many of these attacks and cyber-espionage activities to Russia. Norway’s Police Security Service (PST) also said that hackers linked to the GRU took part in a 2019 cyber-attack on its Parliament. In 2020, cyberattacks linked to Russia had targeted companies researching Covid-19 drugs and vaccines, as well as major US federal agencies and civilian and governmental entities in the 2020 Solar Winds attacks.
Read similar cases claiming that accusing Russia of cyber-attacks is purely Russophobic, that Washington’s frequent accusations about the Russian interference in the US political processes are all unfounded and that Russian secret services have never been involved in cyber-attacks.