Just over a week ago, Michał Dworczyk, the head of office in the office of the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, had to announce an unpleasant message on Twitter: He was the victim of a hacker attack.

The affair has now grown into an affair.

Because Dworczyk has apparently sent numerous business e-mails, some with documents attached, from his private e-mail account to members of the government.

Gerhard Gnauck

Political correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania based in Warsaw.

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    On the messenger service Telegram, new texts and documents that are supposed to come from Dworczyk's mail traffic appear again and again.

    A stranger had set up the channel a few days before the affair began.

    Initially, some media in Poland said that they would not redistribute the content of the channel because their authenticity could not be checked so quickly.

    But there are no hard denials for the widespread content either.

    The matter is spreading and has also called the opposition in Poland to the scene.

    In one of the allegedly hacked emails, Dworczyk wrote to Prime Minister Morawiecki on October 27, 2020. At that time, hundreds of thousands protested against the threatened tightening of abortion law. Dworczyk wrote about a possible deployment of the military: “The deployment of the army in the current situation harbors many risks of provocation, a huge loss of image for the government and the army and arouses extremely negative associations. The situation should be secured by police forces with the support of the fire brigade. ”During the unexpectedly violent protests, church services were disrupted and churches were smeared. Instead of the regular army, the military police were used to protect churches and separate demonstrators from counter-demonstrators.Other emails apparently concerned crisis planning and corona management as well as the policy towards Ukraine, Russia and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

    Basic course in "How do I use an email account"

    On Wednesday, Poland's House of Representatives held a closed session at which the government allegedly briefed parliament on the affair. Government spokesman Piotr Müller also said: "In the near future we will see extensive disinformation campaigns that will mix up true and completely false information." The authorities also had some suspects in their sights. Shortly before the affair began, a man described as Janusz N. was detained for three months. N. is said to have tried to establish contacts with European politicians, including MEPs. He is suspected of espionage for Russia, an investigation is ongoing. According to the public prosecutor's office, the equivalent of around 67,000 euros and numerous data carriers were seized during a search of his apartment. N.is said to have worked temporarily for the small party Zmiana (change), which is known for positions close to the Kremlin. The media put the case in connection with the Mail affair, but little specific information has emerged.

    After the parliamentary session, opposition politicians scoffed at the government. The head of the liberal Civic Platform, Borys Budka, called for transparency and said to the government: “You just want to cover up the fact that Poland laughs or trembles when it reads your emails.” Another MP said the session was more of a basic course in "How do I use an email account". Apparently, several cabinet members sent official information via private accounts.

    The comparison was also drawn with the affair over the hacked emails of the former American presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her chief of staff. "Even if there were no secret documents in the attachments, those who stole thousands of emails have access to the way the Polish government works, reacts and thinks," wrote the newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Warsaw's domestic and foreign policy had been elaborated in these e-mails; their gradual publication creates a wide field for disinformation. "If we read Russian portals now, we can never be sure whether we are dealing with falsified material." Apparently, even ministers have too little confidence in the Polish secret services to believe that they will be able to use official e- Protect mail accounts.Or, as Rzeczpospolita writes, the ministers are even afraid of being spied on by the services themselves.