Daily Junction.mobi portal<p>In cyber operations, as in physical sabotage, the perpetrators range from opportunistic proxies like the pro-Russian hackers in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sweden-russia-cyberattack-energy-infrastructure-power-de1fb8d8beb5e22122dc7300cd62f987">Sweden</a> to elite hacking units directed by Russian intelligence in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/poland-cyberattacks-2025-energy-system-russia-57ebc6e1c67654586c21f0936faa47d1">Poland</a>.</p>
<p>Across domains, Russia has turned unpredictability and disruption into its strategic weapon of choice. Using expendable, poorly trained proxies directed remotely by state handlers consistently achieves psychological disruption while narrowly averting casualties through operational failure. </p>
<p>However, relying on Russian incompetence to protect European lives cannot hold. As the old maxim goes: <a href="https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/sre-principles">hope is not a strategy</a>.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/294285/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elena-grossfeld-2771217">Elena Grossfeld</a>, Researcher at the King's Centre for the Study of Intelligence, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/kings-college-london-1196">King's College London</a></em>; <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/swedish-defence-university-2739">Swedish Defence University</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-elite-spies-to-gig-economy-operatives-the-changing-face-of-russian-sabotage-294285">original article</a>.</p> </div>