Actors in society’s hybrid information environment: Grounded theory analysis




Mustonen-Ollila Erja, Lehto Martti J., Heikkonen Jukka

Thaddeus Eze, Lee Speakman and Cyril Onwubiko

European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security

PublisherCurran Associates Inc.

2020

Proceedings of the European conference on cyber warfare and security

Proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security: a Virtual Conference hosted by the University of Chester UK 25-26 June 2020

European Conference on Information Warfare and Security, ECCWS

Proceedings of the European conference on cyber warfare and security

268

277

978-1-912764-61-7

978-1-912764-62-4

2048-8602

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.34190/EWS.20.121



This paper outlines the actors carrying out information and cyber operations and cyber attacks in society’s hybrid information environment. It conceptualizes these actors using content analysis, as well as a qualitative and Grounded Theory approach by studying primary open sources, such as past scientific articles, government reports, theses, public news, non-scientific (popular) studies, books, websites, TV programmes, blogs, social media outlets, and personal observations of contemporary daily events. The total sum of actor observations was 189 among where information operations, cyber operations and cyber attacks were carried out by 49, 22, and 20 different actors, respectively. The discovered 91 actors are verified and validated. The conceptual model of these actors was developed using past studies and the Grounded Theory approach. This conceptual model acted as a theory on the actors carrying out these operations and attacks in society’s hybrid information environment, and is the scientific result of this study. The practical, and managerial result is the revelation of who these actors are. Being aware of which actors are capable of such operations and attacks enables better defence of society’s hybrid information environment and improves its security.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 12:49