The recent SolarWinds hack demonstrated the willingness and expertise of cyberspies to penetrate thousands of networks by targeting a single entity. This issue is becoming ever more worrying for...Show moreThe recent SolarWinds hack demonstrated the willingness and expertise of cyberspies to penetrate thousands of networks by targeting a single entity. This issue is becoming ever more worrying for the West due to the public attribution of the SolarWinds hack to the Russian government. The Russian government is becoming more assertive in cyberspace. One of their main activities is cyber espionage. Nevertheless, the cybersecurity literature is heavily focused on the technical aspects and makes assumptions for foreign entities’ motivations and intentions based on U.S. understanding of cyberspace. The applications of classical international relations theories to cyberspace phenomena, like cyber espionage, is scarce in the political science literature on this topic, which is mainly policy-oriented. Therefore, this paper will try to fill that gap by analysing Russia’s cyber espionage strategy through the prisms of offensive realism. The theory of Mearsheimer (2014) describes Moscow’s cyber espionage strategy to a certain extent, and it prescribes certain areas on which the Kremlin is most likely to focus. This research will benefit the academic and professional community alike, as it can provide additional tools for cyber espionage activities’ attribution.Show less
