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There is a third option. Domestic hackers who route all their attacks through places like Russia or China for the ease of deflecting suspicion/blame.

• TeMPOraL 12y ago
  This is important. It's all too easy to route and obfuscate your trafic so that it appears to come from anywhere in the world you want. Given that, for example, the US already officially declared that they will respond militarily to a sufficiently annoying cyberattack, and that is rumoured[0] to include going (literally) nuclear, people in power should really remember that just because a cyberattack seems to originate from country X, doesn't mean country X is in any way involved. [0] - I think I saw something implying this in official statements, though I can't find any good source that would confirm it right now; however the idea was discussed in media.
  • Glan1984 12y ago
    Spoken like someone from China or Russia.
• anigbrowl 12y ago
  Oh, I thought that would be included in my first category - I'm not assuming that the hypothetical criminals are necessarily Russian, just that it's easier for them to launch attacks from within Russian jurisdiction for whatever reason. But it's a good distinction to make, thanks.
• kalleboo 12y ago
  And because China and Russia have the highest rates of people running busted old XP/IE6 installs full of spyware.