Europe
Poland raises defenses against cyberattacks before the vote
By
Bloomberg March 18, 2025
Maciej Martewicz and Natalia Ojewska
Bloomberg March 18, 2025
Polish army soldiers from the 12th Mechanized Division raise their country’s colors during the National Flag Day of the Republic of Poland celebration in the Hohenfels Training Area, Hohenfels, Germany, during Combined Resolve X May 2, 2018. Combined Resolve X includes approximately 3,700 participants from 13 nations at the 7th Army Training Command’s Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels Training Area, April 9 to May 12, 2018. Combined Resolve is a U.S. Army Europe-directed multinational exercise designed to give the Army’s regionally allocated combat brigades to Europe a combat training center rotation with a joint, multinational environment. (Brian Schroeder/Army)
(Bloomberg) -- Poland is working to bolster online security and talking to social media platforms in anticipation of increased cyberattacks ahead of the presidential election, according to Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski.
A so-called “election umbrella” is designed to protect the voting process from any external interference, said Gawkowski, who is also minister of digital affairs. The government wants social media platforms to help if attacks intensify closer to the May 18 ballot, he added.
Warsaw is on high alert after allegations of foreign interference in Romania’s presidential election last year prompted an unprecedented top court ruling to cancel the vote and order a re-run. Gawkowski said he was confident the security services would be able to prevent similar attempts at meddling from happening in Poland.
The stakes are high as Prime Minister Donald Tusk hopes his ally, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, will become the next president and help the government press on with its agenda after almost a decade of nationalist rule. Gawkowski said his ministry is in regular contact with the campaign teams of individual presidential candidates. It also met twice with representatives of companies including Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which have the authority to clamp down on disinformation efforts such as troll farms.
“Disinformation happens every day,” Gawkowski said in a Bloomberg interview. The so-called troll farms, which can spread disinformation through multiple fake accounts or profiles, could be activated shortly before election day, the minister said. “This is what we need to pay attention to,” he said.
The authorities warned in January that they were observing organized actions and provocations aimed at destabilizing the election, including attempts to recruit individuals to spread disinformation.
But Poland hasn’t seen any instances of foreign support being granted to candidates akin to what Elon Musk did during last month’s parliamentary election in Germany, where the billionaire openly backed the far-right AfD party.
“Everyone can say what they want about the Polish election, but it’s important that they don’t interfere,” Gawkowski said. “That means not setting up algorithms and not allowing for illegal financing. Today we’re not seeing anything like this.”
With assistance from Fraidoon Poya.