‘Everything smart has a problem:’ Cybergeddon looms

“We see criminals acting on behalf of states and states engaging in criminal activity,” Lawson added. Identifying and proving that deniable actors or proxies are, indeed, state-sponsored, is problematic. “Using criminal actors is like the use of privateers – merchant sailors as pirates with the authority of the state,” Lawson said. “That can help us understand what we are seeing but like all analogies, you can only take it so far.”