Hacktivism In Russian Cyber Strategy

So-called “hacktivist groups” have become an important part of Russia’s cyberspace strategy against the West. In reality, however, this phenomenon is not clear-cut, and hacktivist groups demonstrate many differences when it comes to their constitution, techniques, and especially their level of state control. Many “hacktivist” groups are entities that have been purposefully set up by Russian intelligence services to serve as tools for their cyber- and information operations, while others only loosely align with the Kremlin’s goals.