Cybermilitias and Political Hackers: Use of Irregular Forces in Cyberwarfare

by Scott D. Applegate

Politically motivated cyberattacks have increased in recent years, but in almost all cases, they've generally been attributed to unidentified political hackers, or hacktivists. These attacks have ranged from mere annoyances, such as the defacement of websites in Japan, to full-scale digital blockades of the target country, such as the 2008 cyberattacks against Estonia. In cases such as Estonia or Georgia, a heated debate continues as to whether the attacks were instituted by a nation-state or if they were merely the work of patriotic hackers defending their country's honor in the digital world. READ FULL ARTICLE (login required) »