State-backed cyber spying is pervasive – and its impact on geo-political affairs is deepening
Cyber espionage turned a corner this spring when Israeli fighter jets eradicated a building in the Gaza Strip believed to house Hamas cyber operatives carrying out attacks on Israel’s digital systems.
That May 10th air strike by the Israel Defense Force marked the first use of military force in direct retaliation for cyber spying. This development underscores that we’re in the midst of a new age of cyber espionage.
This comes as no surprise to anyone in the military or intelligence communities. State-sponsored cyber operations have been an integral part of global affairs for decades. And, in fact, cyber ops tradecraft has advanced in sophistication in lock step with our deepening reliance on the commercial Internet.
Here are a few things everyone should know about the current state of government-backed cyber ops.
Russia’s tradecraft
A lot of dots have been connected recently with respect to Russia’s cyber spying, initially thanks to Barack Obama’s leveling of sanctions on Russia for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Among more than two dozen Russians named as co-conspirators by the Obama sanctions were a pair of notorious cyber robbers, Evgeniy Bogachev of Russia and Alexsey Belan of Latvia.
At the time, both were well-known to the FBI as profit-motivated cyber thieves of the highest skill level. Bogachev led a band of criminals t ..
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