State-Sponsored Cyber Crime

27th October 2025

Some cyber attacks having the backing of entire governments behind them: how dangerous can they be?

Everything is easier if you have the right people behind you: with the right backing and support it is easier to achieve your goals. For example, we (Interfuture Security) support people in keeping cyber threats at bay, helping them to keep their data secure.

In the same way, state-sponsored cyber criminals, or state actors, have significant support that helps them to perform even more dangerous attacks.

State actors are individual or groups who conduct cyber security operations on behalf of a government (or similar military group), often funded, trained and protected by these groups. Their aims include espionage, political disruption, economic sabotage, infrastructure attacks and influence campaigns.

Perhaps the most obvious example of this are posts and interactions made by bots tied to Russia or China. The idea is, using a large number of bots, social media can be adjusted to reflect the views these countries want, or to disinform people through fake news (if not filtered properly).

There are other methods state-sponsored cyber criminals use, which are less prevalent but equally dangerous:

·         Advanced persistent threats – long term, complex and stealthy campaigns, designed to target high value assets.

·         Zero-day exploits – using vulnerabilities in new apps or updates to infiltrate systems.

·         Phishing or social engineering – targeted attacks aiming to gain access to sensitive networks, often aimed at government workers, or people responsible for key infrastructure.

·         Supply chain attacks – targeting third parties with less robust security to get to larger businesses.

The danger of state-sponsored attacks goes beyond a standard incident, as those in question have significant funding behind them, allowing them to pour money, time and people into every breach attempt.

Additionally, these attackers will be shielded from prosecution by the countries they work for, allowing them to get away with it even if they are discovered. Furthermore, any investigation is unlikely as it could escalate and sour relations between two nations.

To stay ahead of these types of attack – if you are unfortunate enough to become a target – is as usual: invest in cyber security, stay informed of the latest threat intelligence, train employees to spot phishing attempts and have an incident response plan.

However, if a state-sponsored actor decides to come after your business, due to the sheer scale of it you might be outmatched: we recommend talking to the National Cyber Security Centre for help and advice if you believe such an attack has taken place.

If you want to avoid this type of attack, consider talking to Interfuture Security – we can help improve your defences.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/YIGdR58fpeI