Cyberspace and Artificial Intelligence: The New Face of Cyber-Enhanced Hybrid Threats

Abstract

While, until recently, cyber operations have constituted a specific subset of defense and security concerns, the synergization of cyberspace and artificial intelligence (AI), which are driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has raised the threat level of cyber operations, making them a centerpiece of what are called hybrid threats. The concept of hybrid threat is presently a key concern for the defense and security community; cyber-enabled and cyber-enhanced hybrid operations have been amplified in scope, frequency, speed, and threat level due to the synergies that come from the use of cyberspace and machine learning (ML)-based solutions. In the present work, we address the relevance of cyberspace-based operations and artificial intelligence for the implementation of hybrid operations and reflect on what this cyber dimension of hybrid operations implies for the concept of what constitutes a cyberweapon, the concept of hybrid human intelligence (hybrid HUMINT) and possible responses to the hybrid threat patterns.