In times when physical harm to another country’s government entities or critical infrastructure
, wars are no longer happening only on the battlefield. Nowadays, some governments use cyberattacks as part of their large-scale military actions against other states.
The term cyber warfare is ambiguous and some experts do not find it to be a precise definition of the notion. The conflict is mainly about the scope of the cyber events that can be considered part of an actual war and the parties involved. For now, cyber warfare mainly refers to cyber incidents that happen in a political context and have an intent coherent with the state's policy toward the targeted country. Since 2014, the highest number of
cyber incidents with a political dimension was registered in 2023, with 597 incidents overall. Meanwhile,
non-politicized cyberattacks on political targets were the most common ones.
Most targeted industries by nation-state threat actors
Between 2022 and 2023, state-affiliated threat actors mostly
targeted the global education sector. This is a new dynamic, as between 2020 and 2021, governments were the most targeted. Think tanks and NGOs are Europe's most frequently targeted sectors by foreign nation-state threat actors. Cyberattacks
against governments often cause data breaches or unauthorized access.
Russia: the ongoing hybrid war
Between 2022 and 2023, almost half of
cyberattacks launched by Russia’s state-affiliated threat actors were directed toward Ukraine. NATO member states ranked as a second target, with 36 percent of the attacks. The
most targeted industries by Russian nation-state threat actors were government entities of other countries. In Ukraine, Russia also mostly
targeted the government.
Iran’s involvement in cyberwar
State-sponsored hackers from Iran were most likely to
target various institutions in the United States, followed by Israel. Overall, seven attacks
originated from Iran in 2023 and were conducted by a state-affiliated group, while five attacks targeted critical infrastructure in foreign countries. Furthermore, six cyberattacks that Iranian state-linked threat actors launched
involved data misuse.
“China’s side of the story”
The cyberattacks that China’s state-affiliated threat actors launch have multiple intents. One of which is propaganda. The United States is
the main target of China’s state-affiliated cyber groups, followed by the United Kingdom (UK). Almost a third of the state-linked
cyber incidents that originated from China targeted foreign NGOs. In 2023, China’s state-linked threat actors
initiated seven non-politicized cyberattacks on political targets.
North Korea: the most active initiator of state-sponsored attacks
The case of North Korea is unique. The country
launches cyberattacks often for financial gain. Moreover, North Korean state-linked threat actors
target Russia, one of its rare allies. This might be due to the intention to gather intelligence on various institutions in Russia. The industries most frequently
targeted by the North Korean state-affiliated hackers were think tanks, NGOs, and education.
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