It’s been an exceptional year for the mining industry. The pandemic, market turmoil, employee safety, and, in the background, massive investments, such as those at Tauron Wydobycie, where they were successfully implemented, have all been at the forefront. Tauron Wydobycie operates three mining plants – the Sobieski Mine, the Janina Mine, and the Brzeszcze Mine – which will ultimately constitute a combined mine this year.
A Difficult, Ambitious Year
The company, which was reported a year ago in the context of the sale of its coal assets, can now boast not only of further investments but also – as its management emphasizes – production, which increased by 600,000 tons in 2021.
Last year was a demanding time for the Polish mining industry, a time of difficult decisions shaping its future, as well as a period of grappling with the economic impact of the pandemic. However, in our mines, we managed to use this time to generate positive market results – emphasizes the company’s CEO, Jacek Pytel.
The company participated in extremely important discussions with the government and the social sector, thanks to which it was possible to develop a plan for the mining industry for the coming years.
As CEO Pytel notes, three of the company’s mines have been covered by all the aid measures for the industry. Equally important, the mines belonging to Tauron Wydobycie achieved better staff safety statistics than a year ago.
Key Investments
As announced by the Company, the construction of the 800-meter level at the Janina Mine has been completed, a flagship investment that has opened up new valuable coal seams. The investment also increased the level of automation in the mine’s production. It also improved efficiency and reduced operating costs.
We launched one of the largest shaft cages in Poland, reducing the time it takes for crews to reach their worksites by almost 20 times, reports President Pytel.
The modern shaft cage can simultaneously transport as much as 24 tons of materials, which is as much as two buses weigh.
Tauron Wydobycie has been gradually launching new mining longwalls, resulting in higher coal production at the Company’s mines compared to 2020, exceeding 5 million tons.
Optimization Important for the Company
This is not the end of the investment – the Sobieski Mining Plant has launched a new mining front in the Brzezinka section, characterized by the highest coal quality parameters. The recoverable reserves of this deposit amount to approximately 12 million tons, the company emphasizes.
Importantly, Tauron Wydobycie actively utilizes mining byproducts, such as methane. This is the result of, among other things, a joint investment with Tauron Nowe Technologie – the construction of cogeneration engines fueled by gas from methane drainage from the Brzeszcze mine. Last year, a similar installation was launched in Jawiszowice. Both installations will process approximately 20 million m³ of pure methane annually.
– We have optimized the extraction potential of our mines, adapting it to the scale of energy market demand in the coming years. We are opening new longwalls, but at the same time, we are striving to systematically reduce our fixed cost base to align them with realistic production levels, resulting from the technical capabilities of the mines and the projected market demand for thermal coal,” emphasizes Jacek Pytel, CEO of Tauron Wydobycie.
A market phenomenon
The company boasts something many only dream of: increased production.
“We closed 2021 with approximately 600,000 tons more production than in 2020, as well as significantly higher sales revenue. This allowed us to improve the Company’s liquidity and will certainly have a positive impact on its results in the coming months. The effect of the gradual return of coal prices to pre-pandemic levels will also be visible in the annual results. We are also improving the operational efficiency of our mines, while simultaneously ensuring that the Company’s cost base remains as low as possible,” says Jacek Pytel.
Importantly, this was achieved despite the pandemic and market turmoil.
“Thanks to enhanced safety measures, miners at the Jaworzno, Libiąż, and Brzeszcze plants have been able to work effectively despite the pandemic. We are committed to further minimizing the risk of the coronavirus spreading, so this year’s St. Barbara’s Day celebrations at the Company will be symbolic. We always put miners’ safety first,” emphasized the CEO of Tauron Wydobycie.
This is also extremely important in the context of growing demand for fuel from the energy sector.
“Since the fourth quarter of last year, we have been achieving increased production compared to the annual average, which is positively received by the Tauron Group’s generation segment, which is interested in maximizing coal purchases. This trend will likely continue in the first quarter of this year,” reports CEO Pytel.
Plans for 2022
With a view to further optimizing production, the three mining plants comprising Tauron Wydobycie—ZG Sobieski, ZG Janina, and ZG Brzeszcze—will constitute a combined mine in 2022, holding the largest thermal coal reserves in Poland.
As the company emphasizes, by maintaining cost discipline and implementing corrective measures, it has stabilized its results and is more responsive to the fuel demand of the Tauron Group.
Importantly, the company is seeing significantly higher demand for its products compared to previous years, both from large businesses and individual customers. This applies to its own sales outlets and authorized resellers.
“We are focusing on operations that deliver tangible benefits, measured in production volume, but also taking into account improved efficiency and the quality of the fuels produced. These actions are also aimed at achieving increased yields of coarse and medium-sized coal grades.” At the same time, intensive preparatory work is underway at the company’s mining facilities for the timely launch of six additional longwalls in 2022,” summarizes Roman Gąska, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Tauron Wydobycie.
Jarosław Adamski
A Major Challenge
Lubelski Węgiel “Bogdanka” SA is one of the leading hard coal producers in Poland. The company stands out in terms of its financial performance, hard coal production levels, and innovative investments related to mining and the acquisition of new coal deposits, which guarantee the continuity of its production. In new mining areas, excavations are being excavated and underground mining infrastructure is being expanded. Over time, mining areas are becoming significantly distant from the shafts, which leads to the lengthening of the pipelines transporting chilled water to the coolers in the central air conditioning system. Despite thermal insulation, the lengthening of chilled water pipelines causes increasing pressure losses, which lead to increasingly higher transport costs and increased water pressure in the pipelines, as well as thermal losses, which result in an increase in the temperature of the chilled water supplied to the coolers in the mining areas. If the chilled water temperature at the cooler inlet is higher than the nominal temperature assumed in technical catalogs, the efficiency of the air coolers decreases, making it increasingly difficult to achieve the required air temperature at the mining site. According to applicable regulations, operating hours at mine faces and longwalls are reduced at air temperatures above 27°C. Furthermore, at air temperatures above 33°C, mining operations in these areas are halted. This high air temperature is a major factor affecting miners’ work comfort. It also contributes to increased coal mining costs. To continue safe and efficient coal seam mining in such areas, it is generally necessary to implement certain investment solutions to expand the air conditioning infrastructure underground and on the surface.
This challenge was recently faced by the company, which is currently conducting intensive mining operations in the Stefanów field, where seam 391 in field VIII was commissioned. The longest catwalk in Bogdanka’s history and one of the longest of its kind in the world, approximately 7,240 meters long, was opened there. This is currently the deepest seam of the four seams located in the Puchaczów V mining area for which the mine already holds mining licenses. Opening such a large seam for mining required additional cooling for the mine’s existing central air conditioning system, which must be transported a considerable distance. In the future, further increases in cooling demand for the mine’s workings are expected as a result of increased mining concentration and the advancement of new seams to deeper levels. Therefore, the company had to address the challenge of transporting additional cooling, especially to the mine’s new mining areas.
There’s a problem, and there’s a solution…
Before the expansion, the mine’s central air conditioning system relied on generating chilled water at a temperature of approximately 1.5°C on the surface and transporting it through a network of pipelines to air coolers in the mining areas. Cooled in the Surface Air Conditioning Station (SATS), the water, at a rate of approximately 264 m³/h, flows through insulated shaft pipelines and then through the Three-Chamber Pressure Lock (PES) towards the face and longwall coolers. The return pipeline transports the water, at a temperature of approximately 20°C, back through the SATS and via the shaft return pipeline to the PSS. At the PSK, the return water is cooled again to a temperature of approximately 1.5°C using cooling equipment with open cooling towers and then recirculated (in a closed circuit) through the PES to the underground cooling receivers located at the 990 m level. The cooling capacity of this air conditioning system was approximately 6 MW (measured at the surface). To increase the efficiency of the existing mine air conditioning system, which uses chilled water, the chilled water flow rate in the pipelines would need to be significantly increased. This has been the only method used to increase the cooling capacity of the central installation. Unfortunately, this would require not only expanding the PSK but also replacing the vertical and horizontal water pipelines with larger ones (most pipelines are not designed to handle the higher operating pressure associated with the increased chilled water flow rate), as well as expanding the three-chamber feeder (PES) and its pumping systems (and potentially enlarging the excavation). Due to the fact that central air conditioning covers the entire region, such a solution would require a temporary reduction or even suspension of coal mining and would be very expensive. An alternative solution could be the construction of an entirely new shaft with infrastructure, a new PSK, and the installation of new vertical and horizontal pipelines, as well as a new PES. While this solution does not require a halt to mining, it is time-consuming and also very expensive. Therefore, it was necessary to consider other solutions to the problem of increasing the transport capacity of cold water using existing infrastructure. Therefore, the possibility of subcooling chilled water in a secondary pipeline using compressors was considered. Unfortunately, a side effect of producing “cold” in these devices is always the production of heat (and more of it), which must be recovered from them. Each additional kW of cold produced by the underground cooling equipment generates an additional kW of heat underground, further worsening climatic conditions. This relationship had a clear impact on the development of mine air conditioning – from local cooling, through underground group air conditioning, to central air conditioning with surface cooling equipment. Heat from additional underground cooling devices can be transferred to the mine air, but this solution’s cost-effectiveness is very low (low COP), or it can be transferred to the return water from the mine’s air conditioning system. Transferring this excess heat to the return water raises its temperature and requires further cooling in the PKS (requiring expansion). Therefore, the end result is that the PKS will still need to be expanded. Unfortunately, this solution requires covering twice the cost of generating cooling compared to other methods! The first cost occurs when locally subcooling the chilled water supply in the underground pipeline, and the second when cooling the return water (to which the excess heat has been transferred) in the PKS. For economic reasons, this solution is therefore unsuitable for centralized use and should only be used locally, on a small scale, and only in emergency situations, for short periods, when other solutions cannot be implemented.
Finally, the possibility of using water ice or snow, which, combined with chilled water at a reduced temperature, would act as a “cold” transport medium, was also considered. After analysis, the solution used in mines in Africa and China, which involved delivering snow through a gravity-operated discharge pipeline directly to open reservoirs (underground ponds), was rejected due to the need to build large, ventilated chambers for the water reservoirs. Furthermore, this solution is unsuitable for coal mines due to problems with increasing underground air humidity and water contamination in these open reservoirs (capacity galleries). Furthermore, the snow delivered to these reservoirs melts in them, and water is drawn into the underground pipeline at a temperature of approximately 2-3°C—essentially the same temperature as after the PES feeder. However, based on the knowledge and experience of Polish scientists with over twenty years of experience in the field of ice slurry, the company decided to consider using this coolant instead of chilled water in the mine’s air conditioning system. A concept for the use of ice slurry in the LW “Bogdanka” mine was developed in 2018 by scientists from the Kraków University of Technology. After the Management Board of LW “Bogdanka” SA decided to begin the project, a detailed detailed design of the system was prepared by DPMtech in collaboration with AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków. DPMtech Sp. z o.o. from Rybnik was appointed the general contractor for the project. Additionally, safety and control systems had to be designed for the system. This investment resulted in the creation of the first mine air cooling system in Poland and worldwide using ice slurry flowing in a pressure pipeline.
To facilitate contract execution and reduce costs (avoiding time-consuming rework), the entire building of the new machine hall, along with its equipment, was designed in 3D. All components of the new ice slurry production system are located in the new machine hall (Fig. 1), which is located next to the old PSK. The proposed solution, utilizing an ice slurry, significantly increases the transport capacity of the mine’s central air conditioning system without the need to expand existing infrastructure, i.e., without increasing the diameter of the primary and secondary pipelines. Modernization of the mine’s air conditioning system at Bogdanka Stefanów Field increased the system’s cooling capacity to 9.1 MW (without taking into account the accumulation of “cold” in snow particles). The temperature of the mixture at the inlet to the shaft pipelines was also reduced from 1.5°C to 0°C. In the cooler areas, the medium temperature was reduced from 8-120°C to 0-20°C. Importantly, the construction of the air conditioning system did not affect the operation of the existing air conditioning system during the modernization. Construction of the new system was carried out in parallel with the operation of the existing air conditioning system, eliminating the need for months-long downtime and long shutdowns (as would be the case with conventional expansions based on pipeline replacement). Furthermore, the system allows for automatic or manual reversion to the pre-modernization operating mode, even after the modernization. A key component of the mine’s air conditioning system expansion is the snow particle production system, which has been entirely located on the surface. Ice particles (in the form of wet snow, not frozen ice) are produced in the Ice Suspension Hall (HZL). The ice particle production system consists of a VIM vacuum ice particle generator (Fig. 2) and an ice particle concentrator (Fig. 3), a mixer (Fig. 4), and a pump system.
The VIM850 generator has a maximum cooling capacity of 3.1 MW and produces a cataloged 1,120 tons of ice per day with a 75% particle content. The particles are 0.5-1 mm in size. Inside the VIM ice particle generator, water supplied from the supply pipeline is exposed to a deep vacuum. The device utilizes the triple point properties of water to create a water-snow mixture. The mixture is pumped from the generator to a concentrator, which separates the water from the snow crystals and rinses the particles to achieve high quality. In the VIM generator, steam is continuously drawn in, compressed, and fed to the condenser by a special compressor. The VIM generator is cooled using cooling water at a temperature of 5°C, supplied from a standard chilled water unit (separate closed circuit) equipped with a cooling tower. Cooling towers are used to extract heat from the ammonia chiller cooling the VIM generator. The new PSK hall also houses an electrical switchboard and a transformer with a control room. A chilled water unit for cooling the generator was also installed in the new PSK hall, with the chiller’s cooling towers located directly on the hall’s roof. In the proposed solution, the produced ice (in the form of wet snow) is delivered from the concentrator to a specialized mixer via a belt feeder. This solution does not interfere with the existing PSK and also allows for automatic shutdown of the new ice particle production system and operation of the air conditioning system on chilled water alone in the event of minor cooling needs at the mine or, for example, during system maintenance. The three-chamber, tubular PES liquid feeder was also individually adapted (in terms of mechanical modernization and control) for operation with ice slurry.
System Operation – Measurement Results
A water flow of approximately 264 m³/h at a temperature of 1.5°C at the PSK exit is directed to the new Ice Suspension Hall (ISH) and split into two. A smaller portion, 40-47 m³/h, depending on the current system operating parameters, is directed to feed the VIM generator. At the output of the VIM generator and ice concentrator, a flow of 40-47 tons/h of ice is obtained, with a 75% snow particle content. This means that 30-35 tons/h of ice particles and 10-12 tons/h of water at 0°C enter the mixer. In the mixer, the ice particles produced in the VIM generator are mixed with water at a temperature of 1.5°C (approximately 214 m³/h). As a result of mixing, all the water in the mixer cools and its temperature equalizes around 0°C. After mixing, the ice slurry is pumped to the shaft pipelines. Assuming the total mixture flow (chilled water and ice particles) is 264 tons/h and taking into account estimated heat and mixing losses, the mass content of ice particles in the mixture at the entrance to the shaft pipeline is approximately 10%. After the PES feeder, at the entrance to the underground secondary pipeline towards the mining areas (at the 990 m level), the share of ice particles in the mixture is approximately 8%. Because the liquid will contain ice particles, which stabilize the chilled water temperature in the pipeline at 0°C, the same temperature level can be achieved at the supply to most air coolers in the mine (depending on the distribution of the ice slurry flow in the mine pipeline into individual regions and the quality of the pipeline’s thermal insulation). The low cooler supply temperature and the ice particle content in the chilled water allow, for example, for the same chilled water stream to be used twice (coolers connected in series). This is possible when the water at the cooler outlet is still 9-10°C. If the cooler outlet water temperature is higher but still significantly lower than the return water temperature, it can be used to cool machinery, fire water pipelines, and underground equipment, and only then be directed to the return pipeline. Figure 5 shows the water temperature achieved in the underground pipelines 5 km from the outlet of the PES underground chamber when fed with ice slurry (approximately 0°C) compared to operating the system with chilled water (above 8°C).
After expanding the Bogdanka mine’s air conditioning system with an ice slurry production system, cooling efficiency in the longwall and face areas was significantly improved in all mine areas. Before the air conditioning system was modernized, it was impossible to achieve a chilled water temperature of 0°C, especially when feeding the longwall coolers. At high water temperatures, these coolers only achieved approximately 60% of their catalog efficiency. By feeding the coolers with ice slurry, it is possible to achieve catalog efficiency or even higher. At 0°C, the cooler’s efficiency increase is approximately 20% above catalog efficiency. This results in a significant reduction in mine air temperature in the longwall and face areas, to an average of 20°C, as confirmed by the mine’s ventilation services. This is now possible thanks to the ice slurry’s excellent ability to store “cold.” Figuratively, the “cold” produced at the surface and contained in ice particles is available in greater quantities in face coolers than in traditional chilled water systems. This means that comparing the MW of chilled water to the MW of cooling capacity of a suspension system, calculated at the surface, is not equivalent. This comparison is significantly more favorable for systems using only ice suspension than for systems using chilled water. This is due to the very high capacity of ice particles in suspension to store “cold.” For example, to achieve a chilled water temperature of approximately 3°C instead of 7.5°C in remote areas of the mine, in a traditional system, the chilled water flow in the pipeline would have to be quadrupled (pipelines replaced), and, consequently, the existing PSK capacity would have to be expanded by as much as an additional 18 MW! By expanding the system with an ice slurry, with an additional surface capacity of 3.1 MW, chilled water temperatures in these areas can be achieved at 0-2°C without replacing pipelines. The ratio of required cooling capacity in this case is therefore approximately 6, favoring the ice slurry system. This clearly opens up new opportunities for the construction and expansion of central mine air conditioning systems in Poland. It should be emphasized, however, that LW “Bogdanka” SA is the first and, to date, the only mine in the world to implement this innovative technology using ice slurry for mine air conditioning – so there is every reason to be proud!
Tadeusz Wrzaszczyk1, Łukasz Mika2, Damian Lach3, Ryszard Płoneczka3
1 Lubelski Węgiel “Bogdanka” SA
2 AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Faculty of Energy and Fuels
3 DPMtech Sp. z o.o. Rybnik
Poland is still a European coal mining powerhouse. Although we’re extracting less coal each year, market turmoil could change this trend. This is despite ambitious plans to phase out coal in the European Union. At least in the short term, as the global economy recovers from the pandemic, especially those recorded in 2020.
An extraordinary year for coal
According to the IEA – International Energy Agency – 2021 was an exceptional year for the coal market. It turned out that green energy was unable to guarantee the market the necessary volume of energy supply. Due to turmoil, primarily political, gas was also not a reliable fuel. Coal returned to favor. In theory, because in practice, coal is the fuel on which a large part of the global economy relies.
As a result of the turmoil caused by the pandemic and political decisions – mainly on the part of Russia – global energy production from coal reached record levels last year. 2022 is also shaping up to be a favorable year for the mining industry.
While coal is not looked upon favorably in Europe or the US, China, India, and even Australia seem to be bucking this trend. And it was the production of energy from coal in these countries that made this an exceptional year for energy production – still amid the pandemic.
Although it’s worth emphasizing that Europe also had to remember coal. And this is true even in an economy like Germany’s. When renewable energy sources became insufficient, coal—including Polish coal—had to be the antidote to the problems.
Asia Dominates
Demand for coal in highly developed economies will steadily decline – it was claimed until recently. While this holds true in the US, Canada, and Europe, it is no longer the case in Asia.
China and India – these two huge economies are primarily focused on economic development. Ecology has not been forgotten, but it is certainly not the most important factor.
Surprisingly, coal has also returned to favor in Europe. Poland was no exception. Skyrocketing gas prices and a reduced supply of this raw material, as well as the reduced supply of coal from Russia, have suddenly opened many eyes to what we face.
What was quite surprising for politicians was obvious to our trade unionists. They were the ones who warned that reducing coal production in Poland amid growing energy demand could be harmful to the economy.
Sales are Growing at PGG
The Polish Mining Group (PGG) sold over a million tons of coal more in 2021 than the company’s mines produced during that period. The largest mining company closed last year with production exceeding 23 million tons and sales of 24.3 million tons. In its press release, PGG announced that last year’s coal sales were 4.5% higher than planned, while revenues exceeded forecasts by 11.8%.
Coal stockpiles in mine heaps decreased to less than one million tons at the end of last year, compared to a record 3.5 million tons, PGG announced in a press release.
Key goals, such as sales and production, were exceeded. It wasn’t an easy year; we are still struggling with the effects of the pandemic and the challenging market environment, but we utilized our potential wherever possible. We expanded, among other things, modern coal production lines, which increased sales and revenues,” says PGG CEO Tomasz Rogala.
This year, PGG intends to continue to implement the provisions of the social contract, adjusting production volumes and investment scale accordingly, the press release reads. However, we do not know how much coal PGG intends to extract and sell in 2022.
This caution is likely due to the turmoil in the energy market, but also to Poland’s obligations to the European Union.
But there’s a coal shortage in Poland.
For a long time, energy companies have been reporting to the Energy Regulatory Office that they are unable to meet coal stock levels. The economy needs energy. This demonstrates the current situation.
Although coal companies are doing everything they can to increase production, this process won’t happen by magic. Since we’ve been extracting less and less coal for years, we can’t suddenly extract significantly more, mining experts explain.
There’s a shortage of workers, a lack of investment. But how can we invest when mining is about to be phased out?
In the first 11 months of last year, coal production in Poland reached 50.1 million tons, compared to 49.4 million tons in the same period of 2020. However, 53.2 million tons were sold (compared to 47.9 million tons in 2020).
Fit for 55 seals the future of coal in Europe, but not globally.
The European “Fit for 55” package, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990, firmly seals the future of coal in Europe. However, hope still lingers among industry representatives that things might be different.
Poland has not yet adopted the package, although the Polish government and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have given the green light. If, despite political protests, a final decision is made, coal will theoretically have no place in Poland.
Fine, experts emphasize, but before that happens, Poland should maximize the economic situation and coal export opportunities.
However, even these hopes may be vain when a carbon tax is added to the ETS allowance system. Importing coal from the European Union will no longer be profitable for global customers.
Beforehand, however, Poland, as a coal mining powerhouse in Europe, must do everything possible to benefit not only from the increase in demand but also from the rising prices of coal.
Has Russia Dominated Market Events?
Rising coal prices are largely a result of growing global energy demand, which is recovering from the pandemic, but also a result of rising gas prices. Add to this the ban on coal exports in Russia, and we have an almost complete picture of what’s happening in the market.
Almost, because it’s important to remember, among other things, the problems with coal mining in China – massive floods in some regions of the “middle kingdom” have led to a reduction in production volumes.
The surge in demand for energy resources is currently driving up the prices of both gas and coal. But this situation won’t last forever. Meanwhile, coal prices have soared from around $50 per ton in 2020 to nearly $165 per ton today.
Moreover, according to the International Energy Agency, coal-fired electricity production will increase by 4.1% in China, 11% in India, and a further 12% in South Asia between 2021 and 2024.
This will be a good year for coal, as well as for the industry.
Jarosław Adamski
Cybersecurity has been a hot topic lately, mostly in a political context, but the problem also, and perhaps primarily, affects organizations and entrepreneurs. Access to data is a huge business and generates tangible profits. Or lack thereof. According to EY’s latest report, “Top 10 Business Risks and Opportunities 2020,” cybersecurity was identified as one of the main threats to mining companies. In 2020, the global mining industry was valued at $1.64 trillion, with an estimated increase to $2.43 trillion by 2025. It’s no surprise, then, that hacker attacks, primarily originating from China, have hit the world’s largest companies, such as Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. According to ABC News, Australian mining is also a subject of constant hacker interest. In March 2019, a hacker attack paralyzed the management of units of the Norwegian renewable energy company Norsk Hydro, as well as one of the world’s largest aluminum producers, resulting in a loss of nearly $70 million. David Masson, a prominent cybersecurity expert working for countries including the United Kingdom and Canada, points out on the mining.com website that the consequences of hacker attacks on the mining industry are not only economic but also geopolitical, as they can disrupt the supply chain, particularly for critical raw materials, which are the basis of modern technologies.
The National Cybersecurity System Act plays a key role in Poland’s national cybersecurity system. It established the CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) to respond to incidents violating internet security. The team operates within the NASK institute, the Research and Academic Computer Network, and its primary responsibility is to record and manage incidents violating network security, respond to immediate threats, and issue alerts about identified cybersecurity threats.
CERT Polska also publishes annual reports on the security of Polish internet resources. The latest report for 2020 emphasizes that this was a special year, as the pandemic shifted most of society to online platforms, which contributed to the increase in online threats. CERT experts say that even in the first weeks after the pandemic was declared, we saw increasingly sophisticated fraud attempts in mass text messages and emails, urging people to provide personal data or log in to their bank accounts. The team reports that in 2020, it recorded 34,555 reports, of which 10,420 were unique cybersecurity incidents, representing a nearly 61% increase compared to 2019. Seventy-three percent of all incidents were phishing attacks, i.e., email or text message-based attacks in which criminals, impersonating courier companies or government agencies, attempt to obtain personal data. The most common attempts were to obtain Facebook account login details, payment card numbers, or online banking credentials. Facebook posts with sensational headlines, fake text messages, and WhatsApp messages were used for this purpose, among other things. Impersonating the online auction site OLX was also a popular method.
Ransomware threats increased in 2020. Companies forced to operate based on remote work and online sales became a tempting target for cybercriminals seeking protection money. Ransomware is a type of malware that blocks access to a computer system or prevents the reading of stored data, then demands a ransom from the victim company to restore the original state. In 2020, the Polish CERT team recorded 110 incidents of ransomware infections. More than half of the infections, 69 of them, were reported by public institutions and businesses. Two reports concerned the energy sector, and one concerned water supply. The trend of growing ransomware threats also affects the entire world. Some of the most significant incidents targeted Garmin, a GPS developer, and Acer, a computer giant. In 2021, the number of ransomware attacks continued to rise, with Poland’s most prominent video game developer, CD Projekt Red, also targeted. In May, the US fuel industry was paralyzed by a cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline’s fuel pipeline network. Experts emphasize that the two sectors most affected were education and healthcare. Poland also experienced a series of incidents related to data leaks resulting from hacks into the infrastructure of Polish universities.
The partnership agreement on cooperation in the area of cybersecurity and digitization in industry, signed by GIG and the National Research Institute NASK on January 27, 2022, in Warsaw, aligns with this direction. Both institutes intend to jointly support the development of digital administration in Silesia and develop cybersecurity services for local government units, businesses, and research centers. This particularly applies to ensuring the security of industrial automation (OT) systems and solutions related to the Internet of Things (IoT).
“The artificial intelligence methods and large dataset analysis methods NASK employs are used, for example, to predict threats occurring in Polish mines. We also see the potential for using these methods to assess public threats, such as the threat of sinkholes and other threats related to human activity, including the exploitation of hard coal deposits,” said Stanisław Prusek, Director of the Central Mining Institute, during the agreement signing ceremony. Joint efforts will also include education and the creation of a training center for cybersecurity specialists. Ultimately, the construction of a modern data center at the Barbara Experimental Mine is also planned. Local government units, universities, hospitals, essential service providers, and public administration will be able to use its services, as needed.
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