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WARSAW, Poland (AP) \u2014 A fake news report on Poland’s national news agency saying that Prime Minister Donald Tusk was mobilizing 200,000 men starting on July 1 was probably the work of Russia-sponsored hackers and was designed to interfere with the upcoming European Parliament election, authorities said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything indicates that we are dealing with a cyberattack directed from the Russian side,” said Krzysztof Gawkowski, a deputy prime minister who also holds the digital affairs portfolio. \u201cThe goal is disinformation ahead of (European Parliament) elections and a paralysis of the society.”<\/p>\n
Russian authorities didn’t immediately provide a reaction to the allegations.<\/p>\n
The unprofessional-looking \u201curgent\u201d report appeared Friday at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Polish News Agency, or PAP, the country\u2019s national wire service.<\/p>\n
Eight minutes later, the agency \u201ckilled,” or removed, the report and then issued a statement saying that it wasn’t the source of the article. The cyberattack was repeated and the fake news was pushed again to the wire and was killed again.<\/p>\n
Security officials said that their experts were working to find the source of the cyberattack, and also insulate PAP from further attempts to publish fake news on its systems.<\/p>\n
The government says that Poland, which supports Ukraine in the war with Russia, is being targeted in a hybrid war directed by the intelligence services of Russia and Belarus. Polish authorities say the techniques being used include sending migrants to the border from the Belarus side; sabotage including attempted arsons; espionage; and cyberattacks on state administration offices.<\/p>\n
Gawkowski said that Poland’s sensitive infrastructure was being subjected all the time to various kinds of incidents and cyberattacks.<\/p>\n
The European Parliament election in Poland will be held on June 9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n