Lononaut

How does hacker culture factor into cyberconflict? The short answer: when Russian and Chinese hackers are involved, we don’t know because Western intelligence has not focused on this topic. Foreign intel is tricky. It’s not enough to suck up all the data—the key is proper analysis. If you’re fluent in Chinese or Russian and computer programming, there’s a good chance you make at least six figures in a private company or are too rebellious for government work. Where, then, would an intelligence agency begin in its quest to understand Eastern hackers and their motives? Professor Joe Burton of Lancaster University is trying to bridge the knowledge gap. In his NUS lecture, he argued 1) culture matters; 2) an understanding of hacker motivation is important; and 3) non-Western studies of hacker culture are few. According to Burton, Russian hackers see cyber as informational and surveillance-motivated rather than “kinetic” or disruptive. In contrast, Americans view cyber-strategy as kinetic