Poland Sees More Cyberattacks on Government Servers, Official Says

The computer servers of the Polish government and the national system for payment clearing have experienced more cyberattacks in recent days, a government official in charge of cybersecurity said on Friday.

Janusz Cieszynski, speaking on Polish public radio, said authorities had not yet identified the source of the attacks, which come as Russia presses a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland's eastern neighbour.

Ukraine has also suffered a series of cyberattacks in recent weeks that Kyiv has blamed on Russia. Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.

"The website of the (Polish) national clearing system and servers dedicated to the government email network have been attacked," Cieszynski said. "The attacks are being monitored. It's too early to assign authorship of these attacks." Separately, the chief executive of Poland's top power utility PGE SA, Wojciech Dabrowski, told the broadcaster that his company's IT networks had also been attacked, but added that they remained safe and that supply of heat and power had not been interrupted.

Poland on Monday increased its cybersecurity alert level obliging operators of critical infrastructure to closely monitor their systems.

Western governments and many companies are on heightened alert for cyberattacks after the announcement of sweeping economic sanctions on Russia, whose forces on Friday were pounding Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv.