Over the past few decades, nation-states have increasingly embraced the concept of hybrid warfare. Especially in situations short of open armed conflict, they are deploying cyberattacks, online influence operations, and other tech-enabled tactics to advance political goals and inflict harm on their adversaries. The war in Ukraine has led the United States and Europe to intensify their investment in hybrid warfare, but perhaps the most significant new developments have been the expanded roles played by Western technology companies and open-source researchers.

Over time, tech platforms have become important players in the international peace and security realm. With the war in Ukraine, a host of technology companies were on the front lines from the start and have turned into actors in hybrid warfare in their own right. Cyberattacks, a key feature of hybrid warfare, are aimed not only to cripple an adversary’s defenses but also to probe and identify vulnerabilities in preparation for a larger attack. Russia had significantly more potent cyber warfare capacity than Ukraine, but tech companies helped Ukraine combat Russia’s cyberattacks, transferred Ukrainian government data to remote servers to protect it from Russian airstrikes, and even provided free satellite internet coverage to soldiers and civilians behind enemy lines.  

The full article can be read on Digital Front Lines' website.