How to Understand Hybrid Warfare Dynamics

🚨 🐻 🇷🇺 - New Recorded Future Insikt Group report! This was an incredible team effort led by Cal G, with myself, Julian-Ferdinand Vögele, and Lawrence S. Over the past 13 months, the pro-Russian hacktivist group NoName057(16) has carried out an astonishing 3,776 unique DDoS attacks, averaging 50 targets per day, with peaks aligned to major geopolitical events. Their tool of choice? DDoSia, a custom application-layer attack platform run by a volunteer-driven network. These are not random disruptions. They are deliberate, retaliatory strikes designed to punish Ukraine and its allies — particularly NATO-aligned European governments, critical infrastructure providers, and public-sector organizations — for opposing Russian aggression. 🔍 Key Takeaways: ♦️ NoName057(16) operates a multi-tiered C2 infrastructure to obfuscate attribution and evade takedown, rotating Tier 1 servers every 9 days on average. ♦️ Attacks are politically timed and clearly aligned with Russian military interests, including a major spike after Ukraine’s offensive into Kursk. ♦️ Operation Eastwood — a coordinated international law enforcement action — led to arrests and 24 house searches targeting the group’s infrastructure across Europe. But NoName057(16) remains undeterred, publicly dismissing the crackdown and reaffirming its “information war” mission. 🛰️ This is hybrid warfare in action. It’s cyber-enabled influence operations designed to destabilize without crossing the threshold into open war. DDoSia is not about sophistication — it’s about persistence, scale, and political signaling. This is the future of conflict. Public and private entities are no longer just collateral damage, rather they are the primary targets of hostile state-aligned cyber campaigns. The West must treat these attacks as indicators of strategic intent, not noise. 🔑 Organizations must harden DDoS defenses, track volunteer hacktivist networks, monitor geopolitical flashpoints to maintain situational awareness, and recognize that law enforcement disruption alone is not deterrence — but it compounds to support resilience over time. NoName057(16) offers a blueprint for digitally crowdsourced cyber warfare — a model likely to persist and proliferate. Their infrastructure may be tactically fragile, but their political utility ensures their relevance. Please read and share with your networks! PDF: https://lnkd.in/e2tdzgGp

https://lnkd.in/e9bS-3ji "Over the past decade and more, Russia has been able to cultivate its hybrid interference strategies almost with impunity due to lack of political willingness in European capitals to attribute and counter its hostile actions. This article tracks some of the main challenges that hybrid warfare currently presents in Europe, including a variety of methods deployed: non-physical attacks (including disinformation campaigns, cyber attacks, and prank calls to officials) and a myriad of physical incidents (including sabotage of private or public property and critical infrastructure, instrumentalized migration, property purchases in strategic locations, GPS jamming, and assassination plots). It argues that Nordic-Baltic regional coordination is crucial in responding to Russian gray zone aggression. European countries can only effectively counter the intensifying threat if they work together. Because of their long-standing exposure to Russian intimidation and interference, as well as already existing regional cooperation frameworks, Nordic and Baltic countries are well suited to develop a response blueprint that can be scaled up to the European level in the future."

Imagine you’re playing a game, but the other side changes the rules whenever they want. Even worse -- then they do this. They convince other players that their version of the rules is legit. That’s how Russia uses lawfare—twisting international law to justify aggression, avoid accountability, and manipulate legal systems. And it’s not just governments at risk. Warfare isn’t just about military conflict. The private sector is on the front lines. Hybrid warfare is  about cyberattacks, legal traps, economic coercion, and disinformation—all tools Russia uses to disrupt democracy and the rule of law. ⬇️ Here's how it works: ⚠️Russia weaponizes the law—claiming legal justifications for invasions, sanctions dodges, and economic manipulation. ⚠️It spreads disinformation—turning lies into bogus “legal arguments” and convincing some countries to play along. ⚠️It targets businesses—electronic interference, submarine cable cutting, and legal warfare that put companies at risk. Russian lawfare is a geopolitical threat and a business risk. Russia’s tactics destabilize markets, disrupt trade, and create legal and financial risks for states and private sector businesses. If you think your industry is safe, think again. ❌ No clear battle lines. ❌ No easy defense. ❌ No accountability—unless we fight back. And by we, I mean you. Omer Duru and I break it down in our latest article for Just Security. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eghkbw5y Want to know how these tactics impact your work? DM me. Let’s talk. #law #leadership #nationalsecurity #military #russia #business