ABSTRACT
Despite a clear awareness of the issue of information warfare and shifting doctrines of information operations, scholars have generally failed to empirically examine the shape and context of actual cyber-enabled information operations. Cyber adjunct actions might be the most impactful, but they are surely the minority in the system since Information Operations can be a low-tech operation used to influence an adversary. Cyber actions in this context are done out of the shadows and in the public because they are often meant to reassure a concerned public and demonstrate to the opposition that they have credible capabilities to strike back. The World Anti-Doping Agency report placed the organization firmly in the crosshairs of Russia’s cyber capabilities. Espionage, or manipulative cyber strategy, comes in two forms: short-term espionage is the theft of information and the immediate usage of that information for strategic gain.
