Hybrid threats refer to a mixture of coercive and multidimensional activity and conventional and unconventional methods that can be of diplomatic, military, economic or technological nature. State or non-state actors engaging in hybrid threats use various methods to achieve specific objectives while remaining below the threshold of formally declared warfare.
Hybrid activities include cyber attacks, election interference and disinformation campaigns. Social media can be used to control the political narrative or to radicalise, recruit and direct proxy actors.
Finland strives to build member states’ awareness of hybrid threats and of the existing EU instruments and policies to counter them. Finland wants to foster coordinated and comprehensive response to hybrid threats across administrative boundaries. The goal is to integrate the actions and cooperation that the EU institutions and member states have already started in different policy fields over the past three years.