Macierewicz: Poland to Have 1000 Cyber-Troops within the Structure of Its Military

A year ago, during the NATO Summit, several fundamental commitments have been made, within the scope of cyber-security. The cyberspace is a battlefield equal to the remaining theatres. Macierewicz referred to several cybernetic attacks that took place throughout the recent years. The Defence Minister added that all of the above operations have not been conducted solely by hackers, as they also require state support. “More and more often the governments need to undertake activities to address this issue, such as the US Government deleting the Kaspersky Lab software”.

As the Minister stated, the attacks against the critical infrastructure have been diagnosed quite well, with the issue having a different nature at the verge of cybersecurity and information security. “Disinformation is one of the tools employed by the enemy. In this way, the adversary wants to influence our beliefs and behaviours. Fake news make it possible to manipulate the whole societies. It is worth to be aware of the fact that our main enemy has employed fake news as one of the primary tools he uses.” - as the Minister stated. 

Macierewicz also noted that on “5th December 2016 Putin has made a decision to create information component of the military. Information has become a weapon, it has been a weapon since the times of Sun Tzu. Tools have been created, formed by troll factories and bots. Groups of people are running disinformation operations supported by the Russian intelligence. Just recently we have seen the Russians influencing the election processes in USA, France, Germany and Catalonia. In our country, the Ministries are targeted by trolls and bots on a daily basis. Any method of influencing the public opinion can be employed. These phenomena are being closely analysed, especially the ones that pose a threat to Polish and NATO security. On the basis of the above we create our cyber-security abilities and potential”.

Poland plays a key role as a nation of the NATO’s Eastern Flank. Hence these decisions made by the Polish MoD. As it was declared by Macierewicz, at least 1000 troops for the cybernetic component are planned to be recruited. What is more, decisions are going to be made with regards to infrastructure, that would have a positive impact on the cyber-security of Poland. Exatel is to be the main structure of the Polish critical infrastructure, with the state continuing its effort on strengthening the control within the ICT networks.

“Polish Ministry of Defence remains responsible for provision of cyber-security at the state level, nobody is going to release us of this responsibility. The Ministry must remain at the centre of gravity of the whole system.”

“We have made a decision to create a cybernetic component of the military” – as Macierewicz noted. Moreover, decisions were made to increase the scope of responsibility of the National Centre of Cryptology, and to create an organizational bureau for the cybernetic component of the armed forces and to create a post of a cybersecurity plenipotentiary. The Minister has also indicated the head of the office that would be dealing with organization of the Polish cybernetic units: Mirosław Maj; as the person who would be responsible for creating the cyber-army concept.

The Minister noted that 2 billion zlotys would be allocated to implement the decision on formation of the cybernetic component of the Army. As he added, all of the activities are coordinated by the PM’s office and by the National Security Bureau.