Is there a reason these articles like to say "nation-state" rather than "countries"? I think the question of whether China is a nation-state is not entirely settled (the state is broader than the nation in its case), but also it seems odd to exclude countries like Belgium that are not nation-states from these kinds of statements.
What they mean, of course, is an extremely well funded- government sponsored, tech agency acting as an aggressive security service.
IE; NSA, GCHQ.
As opposed to a tech agency that is acting inwards to the country.
IE; CIA, MI5 (Security Service).
And opposed to a self-funded hacktivist group.
I would greatly prefer better nomenclature though. Nation-State is almost a non-term, since every nation is a state, effectively. - Normally I have seen "state-sponsored", which denotes the correct meaning.
In computer science we tend to have quite clear names for things (blue team, red team). Maybe someone could come up with something better?
>Nation-State is almost a non-term, since every nation is a state, effectively.
This is not true, especially outside of Europe and the US. Even within Europe, Belgium is not a nation-state for example. Many African countries are not either, with Nigeria being an easy example.
State-sponsored is a much better term, I agree, as the phrases are typically used to describe state activity.
I don't think the author cares about semantics here, "nation-states" is in direct contrast with "larger companies" used in previous line. Using a single word "countries" may not sound sufficient to contrast the pair "larger companies" and may not give it emphasis needed to indicate the gravity of the comparison being made. It had to be this or something like "entire countries".
I always saw "nation-state" used in that way as an implication of power and aggression, perhaps a polite euphemism for "has some sort of imperial designs over others".
Is there a reason these articles like to say "nation-state" rather than "countries"? I think the question of whether China is a nation-state is not entirely settled (the state is broader than the nation in its case), but also it seems odd to exclude countries like Belgium that are not nation-states from these kinds of statements.