Poland blames Russian hackers for cyberattack on tax service website

Poland’s tax service website was hit by a cyberattack believed to have been carried out by Russian hackers, according to the country’s top cybersecurity official.

The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack occurred on Tuesday, causing the website to crash for approximately one hour and blocking users’ access to the online tax filing system.

In an interview Wednesday with Polish news channel Polsat News, Secretary of State at the Government Plenipotentiary for Cyber Security Janusz Cieszynski blamed the attack on Russia. “We have information that makes it very likely that this is the adversary,” he said.

No data was leaked as a result of the attack, Cieszynski said. The tax service did not respond to The Record’s request for comment.

Earlier on Monday, the pro-Russian hacker group NoName057(16) wrote on Telegram about an impending attack on Poland’s tax service website.

Hackers siding with Moscow have used cyberattacks in recent months to take revenge on Poland and other countries for supporting Ukraine during the war.

When Poland delivered its first Leopard tanks to Ukraine last week, NoName057(16) claimed to have hacked Polish airport and e-government websites.

Poland’s security agency has repeatedly expressed concern that the country has been a “constant target” of pro-Russian hackers since the start of the war.

Polish cybersecurity officials have called Russian cyberattacks an attempt “to destabilize the situation in the country.”

“Through hostile operations in cyberspace, Russia wants to exert pressure on Poland, as a frontline country and a key Ukraine ally on the NATO eastern flank,” Poland’s security agency said in December.