Poland foils cyberattack on nuclear research centre attributed possibly to Iran

Cyber & Information WarfareCyber AttacksHacking, malware, ransomware

Aggressor

Summary

Poland foiled a cyberattack on its National Centre for Nuclear Research in early March 2026, with initial indicators pointing to Iran as the possible origin.

Poland's government announced on March 12, 2026, that in the preceding days, a cyberattack on the National Centre for Nuclear Research attempting to penetrate the facility's cybersecurity was detected and successfully stopped. Authorities are investigating the attack vectors and found indications suggesting the attack may have originated from within Iranian territory. Poland cautioned that these signs might be deliberate misdirection to conceal the true source. The nuclear research centre conducts sensitive work in nuclear energy and subatomic physics and is key to Poland's plans to build its first nuclear power plant. The incident adds to a series of cyberattacks Poland has faced since 2022 amid regional tensions stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Iranian embassy in Warsaw did not respond to requests for comment. This comes shortly after coordinated airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel in Iran that escalated regional tensions.

Evidence

"The attack may not have been on a huge scale, but there was an attempt to break through the security that was stopped. Appropriate services are already working", Gawkowski said, adding that the centre was safe.
"The first identifications of the entry vectors, i.e. those places from which (the centre) was attacked, are related to Iran," he said.
"When there is final information and the services will check it, we will verify it, but there are many indications that it took place on the territory of Iran."
Poland says it has been the target of numerous cyberattacks since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Iranian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.

Classification

Confidence: High

The article clearly describes a cyberattack incident targeting Polish critical infrastructure with the suspected origin linked to Iran, constituting aggressor behavior. No evidence of defensive preparations was described.

Source URL

https://www.reuters.com/world/poland-says-foiled-cyberattack-nuclear-centre-may-have-come-iran-2026-03-12/?taid=69b324abf9dd4700017dfb6b&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

Open source

Source reliability

Info credibility

Event time

Mar 10, 2026 01:00 UTC

Event time confidence

pm24h

Location

National Centre for Nuclear Research, Poland

Country

Poland