COMMENTARY. There are four nations deemed by the US and UK governments to pose the greatest threat to the West.
Russia's cyber-threat activities are primarily focused on offensive cyber operations, China's are focused on cyber espionage, Iran's on influence operations, and North Korea's on financial gain.
Russia is forming greater economic and military partnerships with China, Iran, and North Korea to boost its economy and resupply its military hardware.
As Russia is engaged in open warfare, the state has conducted a growing number of overt attacks.
Notably, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom are the world's top donors of Ukrainian military aid and are also the most targeted nations outside of Ukraine.
China In 2023, China emerged as the world's second great power, with extensive ambitions to further its influence by way of global infrastructure investment through the Belt and Road Initiative and political domination of East Asia.
China is assessed to be the most advanced threat nation in terms of both cyberattacks and cyber-espionage capabilities.
Protecting China's national interests, including expansion of its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
First, in 2015, China announced its Made in China 2025 plan, which aims to advance China's manufacturing base by rapidly developing 10 high-tech industries.
If China can create advanced semiconductors, the Taiwanese monopoly on semiconductor manufacturing will be severely undermined and thus one of the main deterrents for a possible Chinese invasion will be removed.
China also aims to emerge on the world stage as a hard counter to Western dominance.
Iran has cemented itself as a strong state with great influence in the Middle East.
Iran's cyber characteristics fall into two categories: offensive operations and actions to exert influence to bolster the government.
In 2022, Iran's cyber capabilities were considered the most basic of the Big Four.
In 2023, Iranian state actors used increasingly sophisticated tradecraft, rolling out a larger number of custom implants and becoming much faster at exploiting the latest exploits.
North Korea A state of war has technically existed between North Korea and South Korea since 1950: The countries never signed a peace deal in the Korean War, only a ceasefire agreement.
The North Korean leadership sees the state's and the Kim regime's survival as under direct threat from the United States and its allies.
In response, the state has conducted numerous financially motivated attacks and crypto heists to steal money to prop up the government and fund weapons.
The United States is by far the most targeted nation, accounting for over 40% of targeting over the past 12 months.
Cyber-influence campaigns targeting elections are expected to increase throughout 2024 by all Big Four nations.
This Cyber News was published on www.darkreading.com. Publication date: Fri, 09 Feb 2024 15:20:09 +0000