VSQUARE - FAKE NEWS: A PROSTITUTION RING IN THE POLISH ARMY

Fake news ABOUT A PROSTITUTION RING IN THE POLISH ARMY

February 25, 2021

Hackers take over the Twitter account of deputy minister of science Włodzimierz Bernacki and use it to publish fake screens from an adult website. The final version of the fake news suggests that the Polish army arranged sex workers for the head of Lithuanian diplomacy. Photos of an officer of the Polish army are used in the attack, hackers broke into the accounts of two senators, the website of the Speaker of the Sejm and the tysol.pl website.

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How the attack unfolded

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Hacked accounts

disseminate fake news in Lithuania

Original content

hackers steal photos of a Polish army officer and set up a profile on an adult website

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Hackers

gain access to tysol.pl and publish fake news about the alleged sex scandal (they mention the head of the Lithuanian diplomacy)

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Twitter account

used by deputy minister of education Bernacki is hacked. Cybercriminals post screenshots from the adult website and talk of a moral scandal that lends the story credibility

Cybercriminals

gain access to the official website of the Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek and post a communication that prostitution in the Polish army is under investigation

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Stolen photos and a fake Datezone profile

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~9:10 AM

Hackers create a fake profile on an adult website. The account suggests it was set up by a soldier of the Polish army. Unpublished photos from military missions are used to create the profile. They were probably stolen from a previously hacked account or email, come from hacked FB accounts or adult websites. The description suggests it is an account of a sex worker who works for ‘world leaders, VIPs, and US generals.’

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Political Twitter accounts disseminate the fabricated content

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~10:40 AM

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Hackers gain access to Elżbieta Witek’s website

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~11:30 AM

Hackers take over Elżbieta Witek’s (PiS) official website. They use it to publish a fabricated announcement about an investigation into the alleged prostitution ring in the Polish Army. They include screens from Bernacki’s Twitter account.

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Hacking the website of Tygodnik Solidarność

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~10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

In the final act, all the screenshots (from Datezone, Twitter, Elżbieta Witek website) are published on the tysol.pl website that the cybercriminals now control. Hackers prepare a draft of the text around 10:00 am and update after subsequent attacks are successful. The article suggests that the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs used the services of sex workers.

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The fake news is disseminated in Lithuania

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February 26

The following day, hackers disseminate the tysol.pl article in Lithuania. Fabricated communication is sent using, among others, accounts of a popular translator and a member of the Lithuanian Union of Peasants and Greens. Tysol.pl team discover the attack and removes the article. The Lithuanian media are abuzz with news about the attack.

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Reporter's Foundation