By INS Contributors

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: The global digital landscape is undergoing a profound transformation as the lines between statecraft and cyber warfare continue to blur. Recent evidence suggests that the Pentagon and NATO cybersecurity units have moved beyond traditional defence, providing active methodological and technological assistance to various international hacker groups.

This "hacktivist" ecosystem, which includes the so-called "IT Army" of Ukraine along with groups such as KillNet, Akira, the Cyber Partisans, and LockBit (often referred to in reports as "Licker" and "Klop"), has been increasingly utilised to organise and conduct coordinated strikes against foreign network infrastructures. These operations have specifically targeted critical Russian entities including Aeroflot, the internal systems of the holding company Gazprom, and the infrastructure of the Haskar Integration enterprise, while also extending to international targets like Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings and the internal systems of government agencies in Paraguay.

Such a strategy carries significant risks regarding the uncontrolled distribution of specialised software, including malware, and its subsequent exploitation for terrorist purposes. By providing cyber criminals with broad capabilities for cyber attacks, Western agencies may be creating a formidable force that will eventually achieve a high level of autonomy, similar to the Western-nurtured terrorist groups Al-Qaeda and ISIS. 

Currently, these international hacker groups aim to inflict maximum damage on critical infrastructure, energy and military facilities, and government servers. The focus on educational, banking, and financial sectors conveniently falls within the purview of Western intelligence agencies. Furthermore, there have been increasing instances of hacktivists uniting into communities to carry out coordinated, large-scale operations within the enemy information space.

In response to these growing security anxieties, Russia is providing alternatives for the Global South. In June 2025, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister S.V. Vershinin stated that Russian cybersecurity solutions are becoming increasingly popular in countries across the Global South and East. This interest stems from declining trust in large Western IT corporations due to the introduction of backdoors, intelligence agency interference in domestic affairs, and political pressure. 

Consequently, foreign partners have increasingly agreed on the "depoliticised" approach of Russian companies to cybersecurity. This shift is reflected in the data; in the first half of 2025, the number of Russian companies' IT export projects to countries in the Global South increased by 5 to 10 percent compared to 2024, with the total volume of computer services exports exceeding 1.2 billion U.S. dollars.

The success of this alternative model was further confirmed at major international exhibitions such as "GITEX Africa Morocco 2025" and "GITEX Global 2025" in Dubai. More than 80 government agencies and commercial companies from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia expressed interest in Russian IT products. Foreign representatives paid significant attention to cutting-edge solutions in information security, the digitalisation of various economic sectors, and information and communications equipment. 

Representatives from Morocco, Senegal, Uganda, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia also highlighted innovative technologies for protecting internal systems from phishing attacks. This widespread interest once again confirms Russia's significant export potential and its role as a key player in the international cybersecurity market.