ABSTRACT

In today’s virtually interconnected world, it is now cheaper, faster and less risky for malign foreign entities to conduct non-kinetic subversion of adversaries. This commentary aims to promote debate about whether digitisation has reshaped foreign interference or whether changes to the conduct of covert subversion operations simply mask what at its core is an unchanged and perennial fixture of geopolitics. It calls into question the concept of foreign interference in a world wherein the boundaries of foreign and domestic are beginning to dissolve in the digital theatre of battle. In this piece, I identify several core ways in which digitisation has revolutionised tactics of interference and argue that this differentiates today’s foreign interference from analogue-era espionage. I also explore how digitisation has expanded the range of potential threats and targets which has exacerbated the notorious cyber attribution problem and poses a unique threat to liberal democracies.

摘要

在当今几乎相互关联的世界中，恶意外国实体对对手进行非动力颠覆现在更便宜、更快捷、风险更小。这篇评论旨在促进关于数字化是否重塑了外国干涉，或者对秘密颠覆行动行为的改变是否只是掩盖了其核心是地缘政治不变且常年不变的问题的辩论。它对外国干涉的概念提出了质疑，在这个世界中，外国和国内的界限开始在数字战场中消失。在这篇文章中，我确定了数字化彻底改变了干扰策略的几种核心方式，并认为这将当今的外国干扰与模拟时代的间谍活动区分开来。