Hand and glove: How authoritarian cyber operations leverage non-state capabilities. An integrated understanding of both is required to recalibrate political and legal responses

Jakob Bund

No 30/2025, SWP Comments from Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), German Institute for International and Security Affairs

Abstract: Authoritarian states are increasingly leveraging non-state cyber capabilities to expand their operational reach, thereby challenging conventional distinctions between state and non-state activity. This practice complicates attribution and presents obstacles for coordinated international responses. Moreover, as cyber threats become more complex and entangled, effective countermeasures necessitate enhanced information sharing, trusted partnerships and the development of response tools that function independently of political attribution.

Keywords: authoritarian states; cyber operations; enforcement; Russia; China; state and non-state activity; European Repository of Cyber Incidents (EuRepoC); NotPetya; North Korea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:swpcom:321895

DOI: 10.18449/2025C30

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