Catalysts of Cyber Threats on the Example of Visegrad Group Countries

Abstract The article deals with cyber incidents that were recorded in the area of the V4 countries. It is important for the discussed topic to extract certain factors and with their help to characterise the conducted cyberattacks in terms of political motivations. The analysis tries to prove the existence of politically motivated cyberattacks. This, in turn, helps to determine the consequences of such cyber incidents. Moreover, the scale and magnitude of the cyberattack can be information to determine the strategic maturity and cyber capabilities of the adversary. Thus, the incidents that have occurred allow a cyberattack to be characterised in political terms and thus have value as information about ongoing conflicts in cyberspace that either reflect reality or foreshadow actions yet to come in the real world. Cyber operations can also be used as a tool to build a sphere of influence and exert political, economic and military pressure on a particular state.