Poland Becomes the Number One Target for Cyberattacks in Central Europe

Polish government institutions have been attacked over the past month on an unprecedented scale. In October, there were more than 2,540 weekly attacks on the government sector, according to analyses from Check Point Research. This exceeds levels recorded in other Central European countries — for example, the Czech Republic (2,079) or Austria (2,174). Polish manufacturing was also highly targeted, facing 1,862 weekly attacks, as well as the energy and utilities sector, which experienced 1,791 attacks per week.

“Given the growing threat from Russia — which is conducting hybrid warfare operations against Western countries — Poland, as an active participant in Europe’s policy of supporting Ukraine, is becoming one of the key targets of hostile cyber and disinformation operations. Government institutions are particularly vulnerable and must be prepared for increasingly advanced and coordinated attacks. In the current geopolitical climate, we cannot treat cyberthreats as a separate technical issue; they are part of a broader strategy aimed at destabilizing the state and weakening its resilience.” — emphasizes Wojciech Głażewski, Country Director at Check Point Software Technologies in Poland.

While the European average stands at 1,616 weekly attacks (Check Point Research data), in Poland the average number of attacks per organization reached 1,772 in October — a 14% y/y increase. A full 84% of malicious files were delivered via email, confirming the role of email as the dominant infection vector. Moreover, the most common vulnerability type in Poland is information disclosure, affecting 81% of domestic organizations — significantly above the global rate of 70%. Increasingly frequent are infections caused by infostealers (malware stealing credentials, cookies and access tokens), as well as attacks exploiting edge devices such as routers, VPN gateways and firewalls.

Companies Should Fear Ransomware and… Artificial Intelligence

According to experts at Check Point Research, the main threats to companies worldwide today are ransomware attacks and data leaks resulting from the growing use of generative artificial intelligence. A staggering 87% of organizations using GenAI experienced exposure of confidential information. The use of such tools carries a high risk of security breaches. On average, 11 different AI tools are used within a single corporate environment, and their daily usage is growing at a rate of 8% month over month.

“The risk of data leakage through generative AI tools and other channels can provide cybercriminals with new instruments for future attacks. This evolution creates completely new challenges for defenders. A prevention-first strategy remains the only effective approach — based on real-time actions, artificial intelligence and proactive use of threat intelligence to block attacks before they cause damage.” — says Omer Dembinsky, Data Research Manager at Check Point Research.

In the global ranking of industries most exposed to cyberattacks, the top positions remain unchanged: education and research — 4,470 weekly attacks per organization (+5% y/y), telecommunications — 2,583 attacks (+2% y/y), and public administration — 2,550 attacks (–2% y/y). Particularly notable is the hospitality sector, where the number of incidents rose by as much as 40% y/y, indicating that cybercrime is increasingly shifting toward tourism and hotel services.