Why have them moonlight as hackers when you can get third parties to do what you want? I don't believe for a second that it's an elaborate conspiratorial scheme

Why have them moonlight as hackers when you can get third parties to do what you want? I don't believe for a second that it's an elaborate conspiratorial scheme directed from the top. It's the same as domestic operations here in the USA: GRU comes up with ways to run loosely controlled groups that are accomplishing roughly the same ends. It's about making the battle space more confusing and unpredictable, and it's been going on for quite some time, very successfully. The soldiers don't report back to central control: they're NOT controlled, they're just loosely directed. This would be the same. The hackers doing this don't have to be direct agents here, they're sheltered by the Russian state and only need to have some indication of where and what to strike. It's one-way communication, and it's possible to get the desired feedback through things like Facebook and Google Analytics (by paying for it like any ordinary customer).