Serious Vulnerabilities in Poland’s Cybersecurity Exposed

Two Polish cybersecurity experts investigated how resilient the country’s internet network is to potential cyberattacks and found widespread vulnerabilities in government agencies and infrastructure. The findings, presented at the international Def Con conference in Las Vegas, showed that the country’s critical systems are vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. This was reported by Techcrunch.com reports .

According to ixbt.com, researchers Robert Kruczek and Kamil Szczurowski conducted an in-depth analysis of web resources in Poland’s internet space to strengthen their country’s digital defenses and make it safer. The investigation found serious security flaws in nearly 250,000 websites belonging to more than 10,000 government institutions.

The experts said that the affected sites include the country’s airports, healthcare facilities—including hospitals—and the official pages of government agencies. The problems are caused by software vendors’ failure to address security flaws, as well as the lack of systems for reporting and rewarding vulnerability disclosures.

Open Doors in Critical Systems

The investigation found that some flaws could be exploited very easily. However, certain software providers did not take these warnings seriously and dismissed them as mere inconveniences. This leaves Poland’s public services exposed to cyberattacks and the risk of network takeover.

The study was published as Poland was working to strengthen its cyber defenses. In recent times, the country has seen a wave of suspected Russian cyberattacks targeting energy and water utilities. Some of these attacks were found to have been carried out by exploiting weak cyber defenses.

Problems with Pad CMS and the Justice System

Kruczek and Szczurowski found several dangerous vulnerabilities in the widely used Pad CMS content management system. In particular, one flaw provided unrestricted access to more than 300 government websites through an open system that did not require a password. Developers had stopped releasing updates because the software had reached the end of its support period.

Another vulnerability allowed the researchers to gain access to two-thirds of Poland’s judicial system, including the websites of approximately 245 court offices. The experts submitted their findings to the government through the appropriate official channels. In their view, their work paid off and helped strengthen the country’s cybersecurity, at least to some extent.