Mercenaries in Cyberspace

Cyberspace is becoming increasingly armed and more active battleground than ever before, and more we know is less. Contrary to popular belief among most cyber professionals on cyber threat actors; it is now emerging that cyber mercenaries are equally a challenge if not more than previously known nation-states.

Advanced persistent threats require a high degree of deniability apart from sophistication in methods and advanced skills for their viability, which demands tremendous investments to develop and maintain. Nation-states sometimes fund, raise, and maintain hackers to achieve their objectives and eventually disengage through a covert channel. This trend has led to the growth of “Cyber mercenaries”. This can be related to a conflict in southwest Asia where a proxy war between two nations created various terrorist groups that later caused harm to people across the world including countries who allegedly funded and nurtured them. The story of Cyber mercenaries is no different. An increasing trend of deployment of cyber mercenaries by nation states to achieve their diplomatic and political end state has left cyber mercenaries not only the expertise, but also tools, techniques, and experience in their hands which presents high risks the entire cyber space including both public and private sectors and even end-users who are sometimes the first hop in attackers path to their objectives.

The emerging new threat actor “cyber mercenaries” presents more risks as, firstly, they will be less considerate in launching an attack with mass impact as compared to a nation state. These groups are uncontrolled and can cripple society. Secondly, there are no apparent rules of engagement meaning bilateral, or multilateral agreements between nations are almost inconsiderate with this threat vector.

This new threat vector in cyberspace will require a more integrated intelligence sharing between public and private sectors, apart from a consensus among the global community, leaders, and policymakers on addressing this menace that is knocking on our doors.