Polish Space Agency Targeted by Cyberattack Acknowledged by Government

• POLSA’s IT infrastructure was the target of a cybersecurity breach over the weekend.
• Unauthorized access was detected, and impacted systems were taken offline as a precaution. 
• Two Computer Security Incident Response Teams are working on the open investigation.

An unauthorized entity infiltrated the Polish Space Agency's (POLSA) IT infrastructure. Polish cybersecurity services detected the intrusion, the Minister for Digitalisation Krzysztof Gawkowski said on Sunday.

The POLSA network was immediately disconnected from the Internet in order to secure data, and local security incident response agencies have opened an investigation into the matter.

"In connection with the incident, the systems under attack were secured. Intensive operational activities are also underway to identify who is behind the cyberattack," Gawkowski wrote on social media platform X.

News agency PAP confirmed that the cybersecurity incident had occurred, and further details are yet to be announced.

The Computer Security Incident Response Team at the National Research Institute (CSIRT NASK) and the Computer Security Incident Response Team at the Ministry of National Defence (CSIRT MON) in Poland are collaborating to discover the source and scope of the security incident.

Although Russia was not blamed for the incident yet, Warsaw repeatedly accused Moscow of attempts to destabilize Poland due to supplying military aid to its neighbor, Ukraine. Russia dismissed these allegations.

The Polish Space Agency is an executive body under the Ministry of Development and Technology since 2014. It plays a key role in supporting the country’s space industry and collaborates internationally on space exploration and utilization.

Recently, the pro-Russia hacker group Noname057(16) was linked to cyberattacks on 20 Italian websites in transport and financial sectors due to Ukraine war comments, and the European Union revealed sanctions on three Russian hackers allegedly connected to the 2020 Estonian cyber attacks.