“The nature of the affiliation between these groups and the Iranian government is unknown to the public, but Iran has historically used proxies in irregular warfare and terrorism. In utilizing cyber proxies, Iran would be modernizing its conventional methods by taking a page from the playbook of its ally, Russia.
The use of proxies provides nation-states many advantages, wrote Central Intelligence Agency veteran Rob Dannenburg, ‘including plausible deniability, relatively low cost, little chance of political blowback, very little legal recourse for the target or victim and the opportunity for a state actor to reinforce and exercise relationships with non-state actors that could be of use in a future conflict.’”
Source: Iran’s cyber strategy: A case study in Saudi Arabia – Fifth Domain | Cyber
