Polish Space Agency "POLSA" Suffers Breach; System Offline

Systems offline to control breach

The Polish Space Agency (POLSA) suffered a cyberattack last week, it confirmed on X. The agency didn’t disclose any further information, except that it “immediately disconnected” the agency network after finding that the systems were hacked. The social media post indicates the step was taken to protect data. 

US News said “Warsaw has repeatedly accused Moscow of attempting to destabilise Poland because of its role in supplying military aid to its neighbour Ukraine, allegations Russia has dismissed.” POLSA has been offline since to control the breach of its IT infrastructure. 

Incident reported to authorities

After discovering the attack, POLSA reported the breach to concerned authorities and started an investigation to measure the impact. Regarding the cybersecurity incident, POLSA said “relevant services and institutions have been informed.”  

POLSA didn’t reveal the nature of the security attack and has not attributed the breach to any attacker. "In order to secure data after the hack, the POLSA network was immediately disconnected from the Internet. We will keep you updated."

How did the attack happen?

While no further info has been out since Sunday, internal sources told The Register that the “attack appears to be related to an internal email compromise” and that the staff “are being told to use phones for communication instead.”

POLSA is currently working with the Polish Military Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT MON) and the Polish Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT NASK) to patch affected services. 

Who is responsible?

Commenting on the incident, Poland's Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, said the “systems under attack were secured. CSIRT NASK, together with CSIRT MON, supports POLSA in activities aimed at restoring the operational functioning of the Agency.” On finding the source, he said, “Intensive operational activities are also underway to identify who is behind the cyberattack. We will publish further information on this matter on an ongoing basis.”

About POLSA

A European Space Agency (ESA) member, POLSA was established in September 2014. It aims to support the Polish space industry and strengthen Polish defense capabilities via satellite systems. The agency also helps Polish entrepreneurs get funds from ESA and also works with the EU, other ESA members and countries on different space exploration projects.