The growing intensity of cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and hybrid threats is increasingly shaping the way central and local government institutions operate. Rising crisis risks mean that communication procedures must be adapted so that institutions can respond faster, reduce information chaos and reach citizens more effectively. Poland’s Government Centre for Security has prepared two new documents — the Risk Communication Strategy and the Crisis Communication Strategy — designed to help public offices, local governments and companies adjust to the changing security environment.
“Once, we thought about crises mainly in natural terms: fires, storms or floods. Today, that environment is changing dynamically. Disinformation and hybrid activities are emerging, and they are multidimensional, involve many government departments and unfold in several stages,” Piotr Błaszczyk, spokesperson for the Government Centre for Security, told Newseria.
According to data from the Ministry of Digital Affairs, national-level CSIRT teams received 682,200 cybersecurity threat reports in 2025, while the number of handled incidents reached 272,900 — 144% more than a year earlier. CERT Polska recorded 260,800 cybersecurity incidents, 97% of which were computer fraud cases, mainly phishing and attempts to steal data. In 2025, CERT Polska experts added nearly 250,000 malicious domains to the warning list, an average of about 680 per day.
A growing number of incidents also affect critical infrastructure. One such case was recorded at the end of 2025, when CERT Polska reported coordinated activities targeting the energy sector. These attacks affected, among others, wind farms, photovoltaic installations and infrastructure companies.
“I support the view that effective communication can save someone’s life, influence safety and determine a citizen’s ability to respond. Our strategies help bring together communication that is currently partly dispersed,” said Piotr Błaszczyk. “The Risk Communication Strategy and the Crisis Communication Strategy are two related, complementary documents that we created at the Government Centre for Security as part of the EU co-financed Track 1 project.”
The Risk Communication Strategy focuses on actions taken before a threat occurs, such as public education, information campaigns and the preparation of procedures concerning cyberattacks, failures of critical infrastructure and disinformation activities. The authors of the document indicate that it is intended to create a common system for informing the public about threats at national level — clear for citizens and easy for various public institutions to use. Based on the strategy, ministries, voivodeship offices and other public institutions are expected to prepare their own communication procedures.
“The point is for each of us to know how to behave in a specific situation if a crisis occurs, and what to do to limit its negative consequences,” the Government Centre for Security spokesperson explained.
The authors stress that communication about threats should prepare citizens to respond, while warning them without causing fear.
“The second document is the Crisis Communication Strategy, which covers everything that happens after a crisis occurs: both the immediate period after the event and the entire process of communicating during the crisis,” Piotr Błaszczyk said. “These two documents are practical tools that each ministry and voivodeship can use for its own needs. They are guides on how to create a dedicated strategy within a given ministry, at the appropriate level or in the private sector, so that communication is simpler, more coherent and reaches audiences more efficiently.”
He emphasised that contradictory messages from different institutions can lead to chaos, confusion and a decline in public trust. The strategy organises information activities in situations where time is critical, emotions are strong, panic may appear and the rapid flow of information can directly affect public safety.
“When authorities react quickly, provide verified information and avoid communication chaos, people can be confident that the state is acting and that everything is under control. Citizens know what the next specific steps are at different levels — central, regional and local — and what information they can expect from the services,” explained Luiza Jurgiel-Żyła, spokesperson for the Mazovian Voivode.
The strategies assume close cooperation between local administration, emergency services and institutions responsible for crisis management.
“In a crisis situation, local government is the closest information centre for citizens. If it prepares properly for a crisis and cooperates quickly and effectively with services or the voivodeship office, it can help reduce stress, chaos and the level of disinformation surrounding the crisis,” Luiza Jurgiel-Żyła said.
According to the strategies, information should be communicated through both digital and traditional channels, including radio, television, SMS messages and local announcements. The documents also provide for regular exercises and training for press officers and people responsible for crisis communication, including response to disinformation and cooperation between institutions.
The Risk Communication Strategy and the Crisis Communication Strategy are practical templates that institutions can adapt to their own procedures, types of threats and day-to-day administrative work. They may also be used by the private sector, particularly in industries linked to the security of infrastructure and public services. The strategies cite sectors such as energy, water and sewage, transport, healthcare, food and technology as examples.
“These documents contain many universal elements that can be used by business, the public sector and academia alike. When a crisis comes, it is usually too late to build trust and relationships,” said Karolina Łuczak, president of the Polish Public Relations Association. “We live in difficult times, a period of major change. Such a strategy is a fundamental document for people responsible for communication. It is worth using the documents already prepared and, on their basis, creating solutions tailored to a given organisation. This should be a basic operating policy for the moment when a crisis actually appears.”
The Government Centre for Security has announced further activities related to crisis communication training and preparing citizens to respond to threats and use reliable sources of information.
“As part of this project, we want to create a complementary knowledge base on threats, so that every citizen can check whether they are in a risk area in a given situation and how to behave when it occurs,” Piotr Błaszczyk said.
