Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki raised the alert level from one to three on a scale of four, the state PAP news agency reported.
Poland’s first alert level is referred to as ALFA-CRP, the second is called BRAVO-CRP, the third is known as CHARLIE-CRP, and the fourth is defined as DELTA-CRP.
The government introduced the lowest ALFA level in mid-February, and now the Polish prime minister upgraded it to level three, CHARLIE, officials told reporters.
This kind of alert level will remain in place until March 4, the government’s commissioner for cybersecurity, Janusz Cieszyński, told the PAP news agency.
He said the heightened alert was due to “the situation in Ukraine and intelligence about events which have occurred in Poland."
Protection of critical infrastructure
Cieszyński added that "the protection of critical infrastructure will be stepped up" under the new alert level.
“Those responsible for system security will be obliged to boost security procedures, for instance by putting administrators on round-the-clock duty,” Cieszyński said.
“Also, it will be necessary to review the available back-up resources in terms of their potential use,” he added.
Cieszyński told reporters: “We want to prepare for every possible situation and make sure our IT systems infrastructure is ready for every eventuality.”
He added that the CHARLIE level would remain in force until March 4, unless “something changes, in which case we will obviously announce it.”
Under Poland’s anti-terror laws, the third CHARLIE alert level "applies in case of events which suggest a probable subject of a terrorist attack targeting public security, the security of Poland, or the security of another country, creating a potential threat to Poland,” PAP reported.
CHARLIE can also be introduced when there is "credible and confirmed information about a planned event of a terrorist nature," according to the news agency.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP