European news agencies condemn cyber-attack on PAP
The European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) has "strongly condemned" the recent cyber-attack on the Polish Press Agency, one of its members, the alliance said in a statement on Wednesday.
In the early afternoon last Friday, PAP was targeted by hackers, who sent out a fake report through the PAP online service claiming that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk had announced a partial mobilisation of 200,000 men who were going to be sent to Ukraine.
The report was immediately cancelled by PAP but was re-released minutes later. The second release was also cancelled.
"The Board of The European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) strongly condemns the cyberattack on the Polish Press Agency's website that was carried out a few days ago," EANA wrote in a statement published on its website. "Understanding the value that trustworthy and free news agencies bring to our society, EANA underlines the fundamental need that real journalism is secured and left out of any type of conflicts."
"The attack on PAP's website was obviously an attempt from malignant actors to destabilise and misinform the Polish society before a very important European election round and during an ongoing war in Ukraine," the statement quoted Alexandru Giboi, secretary general of EANA, as saying. "In a way, this unfortunate development showcases the critical importance news agencies have for societies, especially during very important national or global events. Also, in this context, media organizations should focus more on cybersecurity and governments should observe the need to invest more in life-long learning of media literacy."
Elmir Huremovic, member of the board of EANA, echoed Giboi's criticism.
"I strongly condemn the cyber-attack on the Polish news agency," Huremovic was quoted as saying in the statement. "Given the potential danger of such incidents continuing, I urge media consumers to be extremely cautious and critical of news containing unusual content or a sensationalist tone. It is crucial to verify information from multiple sources in order to effectively counter potential threats that may affect our media outlets."
"Within the EANA alliance, we are part of an international family of news agencies," Marek Blonski, head of PAP, commented on the EANA statement. "Members of the alliance know exactly what a crisis situation means for any news agency or any medium in general, when we publish 'a fake report', or something that is not in line with our standards and can undermine our credibility.
"It also underlines the importance of the role press agencies serve in the information flow in any European country and around the world," Blonski continued. "They are the backbone of information and media flow and may be used for disinformation as well. It is also a warning against disinformation, which increasingly often impacts not only Poland, but also other countries."
According to the Polish digitisation minister, the attack most likely came from Russia. (PAP)
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