Poland Accuses Russia Of Being Behind Cyberattacks On Online Tax Reporting Systems

Janusz Cieszynski, the official in charge of digitalization in Poland. (photo: twitter @jciesz)

JAKARTA - A Polish government official said on Wednesday, March 1, that Russia was behind a hacking attack blocking user access to an online tax filing system, amid continued high tensions between Warsaw and Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Western officials say that the Russian government is a global leader in hacking and using cyber-espionage against foreign governments. Meanwhile, Moscow has consistently denied carrying out hacking operations.

"The Russians are responsible for yesterday's attack, it must be made clear. We have information that makes it very possible that this is an opponent," Janusz Cieszynski, the official in charge of digitalization, told television station Polsat News.

Reported by Reuters, the Russian Embassy in Warsaw said in an emailed response asking for comment that they were "affordable to the fact that in the West, you can now accuse Russia of anything without evidence. This is another case in a style that is already known to say'very likely'".

Cieszynski said that the attack consisted of a denial of service distributed (DDoS) but there was no leak of tax data.

"This is an attack that blocks access to the site, but does not block security and does not put our data at risk," Janusz said.

Several countries that have accused Russia of being behind cyberattacks in their countries include the United States, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Georgia, and Estonia.

Cyberattacks by Russia in these countries are diverse, but some of them include:

Meanwhile, there have been no reports indicating that Russia carried out a cyberattack on Ukraine prior to the military invasion in 2014. However, since the beginning of the conflict, neither the Ukrainian government nor the private group have been reportedly targeted for cyberattacks originating from Russia.

The attacks include email account breaches, DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, and malicious software attacks aimed at stealing confidential data or damaging the system. These cyber attacks have caused heavy losses in terms of national security and Ukraine's economy.