Hybrid Threats: Concept, Objectives, Elements, Means, and Actors

Abstract

The article analyzes the phenomenon of hybrid threats as one of the main challenges to security, institutional stability, and democratic order. Taking a legal-strategic approach, it examines their concept, characteristics, agents, and objectives, as well as the instruments used to carry them out, with special attention to disinformation, cyberattacks, and the instrumental use of regulatory frameworks. It analyzes the role of disinformation and its impact on democratic processes, social cohesion, and trust in institutions, and the role of certain state actors, highlighting the legal difficulties arising from attribution, regulatory response, and the protection of fundamental rights.