ABSTRACT
Cyber-space is increasingly utilized as a conflict domain, especially for political and economic purposes in peacetime and political and military goals during armed conflicts. Not least the Ukraine war has highlighted the importance of non-state actors and their cyber-operations, even in the context of already militarized state disputes. However, the line between state and non-state actors is becoming increasingly blurred in the context of cyber-conflicts. Therefore, this chapter is dedicated to state proxies in the digital sphere: what distinguishes them from traditional proxies of the analog realm? Why do autocratic states tolerate, support, or even engage actors outside their state institutions that conduct offensive cyber-operations often from their own territories? What foreign and domestic policy considerations shape the respective state’s cyber-proxy strategy? To answer these questions, the chapter examines the functional as well as operational roles of (offensive) cyber-proxies. The latter are also clarified from an empirical perspective on the basis of a comprehensive cyber-conflict dataset.
