state actor
Sovereign entity participant
A state actor is a government or entity operating on behalf of a government.
In international relations, state actors are nations participating in diplomacy, trade, or conflict—as opposed to non-state actors like corporations, terrorist groups, or NGOs.
In law, state actors are government agents whose conduct is subject to constitutional constraints: The Fourth Amendment only restricts state actors, not private citizens.
Cyberattacks are often attributed to state actors when evidence points to government sponsorship.
- nationSovereign political entity
- governmentAuthority over a state
- espionageCovert intelligence gathering
- cyberattackMalicious digital intrusion
- intelligenceMental ability, cognitive capacity
intelligence agency · sovereignty · diplomat · covert · covert ops · regime · propaganda · sanctions · military · operative · foreign · foreign agent · clandestine · plausible deniability · agency · surveillance · proxy · adversary
- online personastroll, bot, influencer, lurker, spammer
- propagandistspropagandist, Joseph Goebbels, Tokyo Rose, disinformation agent, mouthpiece
- Cyberwarfarecyberattack, cyber warfare, cyberwar, cyber attack, cyber weapons
- criminalsmurderer, thief, burglar, criminal, killer
- Hackershacker, black hat, cracker, script kiddie, hacktivist
- Online Manipulatorstroll, bot, shill, sock puppet, sockpuppet
state actornon-governmental organization
Private group serving public aims
NGO · militia · rebel group · paramilitary group · criminal organization
state actornon-governmental organization
Private group serving public aims
NGO · private company · corporation · multinational corporation · private citizen
state, actor, states, stated, stating, statement, statements, stately, stateless