WARSAW : A Polish government official said on Wednesday that Russia was behind a hacking attack that blocked users' access to the online tax filing system, as tensions between Warsaw and Moscow run high due to the war in Ukraine.

Western officials say the Russian government is a global leader in hacking and uses cyber-espionage against foreign governments. Moscow has consistently denied that it carries out hacking operations.

"Russians are responsible for yesterday's attack, it must be made clear. We have information that makes it very likely that this was the adversary," Janusz Cieszynski, a government official responsible for digitalisation, told broadcaster Polsat News. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.

Cieszynski said the attack consisted of distributed denial of service which resulted in blocking access to the website, but taxpayers' data were not leaked. "This is an attack that blocks access to the site, but does not block security and put our data at risk."

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