2024 year was record-breaking for CERT Polska who handled more than 100,000 cyber incidents! There were more than 600,000 reports of suspicious findings on the network, which means an average monthly figure of about 50,000. Of course, many factors contributed to such a situation. The activity of cybercriminals is not decreasing, but awareness of cyber threats is also growing – hence such an impressive number of reports! How do Poles know where to report threats?

1. The impact of social media

A crucial aspect of building knowledge about cybersecurity is our activity on social media. Our warnings are systematically issued. They concern the biggest fraud campaigns and are published simultaneously on CERT Polska’s Facebook, X, and LinkedIn profiles. Social media is also the place for ongoing educational series – in the summer, we talked about social engineering scams, and in the spring, we started a series on AI , focusing particularly on the deepfake phenomenon. In the posts, we described topics such as the origins and history of deepfakes, examples of their use, and misconceptions about them. We also provided tips on what to look out for to recognize manipulated materials. In June, before the European Parliament elections, in addition to the posts, we published an article “Deepfake and elections” on our website. These warnings are an important part of cyber awareness building.

2. A specialised app on cyber threats with push notifications

Last year, we introduced a new feature – push notifications sent via the mObywatel app, informing users about current cyber threats. mObywatel is a government application that can be downloaded safely and free of charge onto your smartphone from the Google Play Store and App Store. It is a citizen’s assistant that will make dealing with official matters simpler and more convenient – without leaving home.

Starting this year, the app includes “Network safety”, which allows you to receive alerts about threats and provides access to a knowledge base on various aspects of cybersecurity. In addition, there is an option to report an incident – we’ve decided to include this feature, taking into account the needs of users on mobile devices.

3. Making it easy to check suspicious links

As early as 2023, we noticed that new notification channels led to an increase in the number of reports. That’s why we’ve launched a short number 8080, to which you just have to copy an SMS to receive information on whether it was used for phishing. If so, the site to which the link from the message led will be on the List of Warnings. Being on the List means that access to this website will be blocked through cooperation with telecom operators.

In 2024, we blocked 75 million attempts to access websites on the List of Warnings! In addition, the pattern of such a text message will go to telco operators, and all messages matching the pattern will be blocked before they reach citizens. This is a new solution, but we have already blocked more than a million such fraudulent messages.

I mentioned our technical solutions because they are an important part of our communication strategy. We show citizens that it’s worth reporting cyber threats because we protect others together. Thanks to the List of Warnings, millions of people have not been fooled, and this is thanks to those who proactively decided to act.

The notifications also give us a more complete picture of what is happening in cyberspace and allow us to take more effective action and respond appropriately. That’s why campaigns promoting the value of notifications and educating about cyber threats will continue in 2025. I encourage you to do so as well!