Poland warns of rising cyberattacks amid spread of advanced AI tools

Poland expects further growth in cyberattacks against the backdrop of rapid proliferation of more powerful AI tools. According to Polish authorities' assessment, pressure on government systems, companies, and citizens will intensify, with part of the attacks becoming cheaper, faster, and more convincing for malefactors.

Why risk is growing

For Poland, this topic is not theoretical. The country is already facing an increase in cyberattacks that authorities link to Russia, and now this pressure is compounded by a new factor — the accessibility of advanced artificial intelligence models. If previously complex phishing campaigns, fake emails, and preparation of malicious scenarios required notable resources and time, now a significant portion of this work is being automated.

As a result, attackers can launch more operations simultaneously and adapt them to specific targets faster. The main problem is not only that AI makes attacks smarter. It also lowers the barrier to entry: less experienced groups gain access to tools that help write plausible messages, collect open data about victims, and test dozens of social engineering variants with almost no downtime.

For a country under constant digital pressure, this means growth not only in threat complexity, but in their density — there can simply be more attacks.

How AI helps

In practice, generative models can accelerate nearly the entire attack cycle — from reconnaissance to malicious content delivery. AI already knows how to quickly summarize large masses of information, adapt texts to the language and style of the addressee, and create convincing correspondence templates. This is particularly dangerous for government structures, critical infrastructure, and large companies, where a single successful attack on an employee can grant access to multiple internal systems at once. This is not necessarily about fully autonomous breaches. Much more importantly, attackers gain a boost in speed and scale at the most concrete stages of work:

• Personalized phishing without lengthy manual preparation
• Quick translation and localization of emails to Polish language and local context
• Mass creation of message variants to bypass filters
• Automatic analysis of open profiles, documents, and data leaks
• Preparation of plausible communication scenarios on behalf of colleagues or state bodies

A separate risk is connected to the fact that such tools are useful not only for hacking in the narrow sense. They can support disinformation campaigns, imitate internal service messages, and amplify chaos during politically sensitive moments or security incidents. When a fake is made quickly, in good language, and with consideration of local details, it becomes harder for the recipient to recognize deception by familiar signs such as garbled text or unnatural tone.

What defense should do

For defense, this changes priorities. It is insufficient to assume that only rare and technically complex attacks are dangerous: AI increases efficiency precisely in mass campaigns that previously often ran up against the attackers' lack of time. Therefore, defense should proceed from the assumption that fake emails, messenger inquiries, and false service requests will look increasingly convincing and more often use local context.

The practical response here is quite mundane: update verification processes faster, strengthen multi-factor authentication, limit unnecessary access, and regularly train teams on realistic social engineering scenarios. A separate task is early detection of campaigns that scale through automation. The faster organizations notice repeating patterns, the less chance that one successful trick will grow into a series of incidents.

What it means

Poland's history shows that AI amplifies not only defenders but attackers. For states and businesses, this is a signal: cyber threats will grow not only in quality but in volume, which means success will go to those who faster restructure basic digital hygiene and response processes.