Technology-Enabled Hybrid Threats and Institutional Resilience in Kosovo: A Qualitative Study of Security Professionals

Abstract

Hybrid threats exploit technological, informational, political, and organizational instruments to capitalize on existing vulnerabilities while complicating detection, attribution, and response. The current study investigates how professionals working in security-related fields in Kosovo perceive the role of digital technologies in facilitating hybrid threats, the institutional vulnerabilities that increase exposure to such threats, their implications for political stability and public trust, and the measures required to strengthen institutional resilience. An exploratory qualitative research approach was adopted with the involvement of nine purposively chosen professionals working in the fields of cybercrime investigation, prosecution, journalism, security, and other institutional sectors. Data were collected in March 2026 using an asynchronous online qualitative questionnaire with five open-ended questions. The analysis identified five thematic strands, including hybrid warfare as an evolving security challenge, technology as an enabling mechanism, institutional and informational vulnerabilities, political stability and public trust, and multidimensional priorities for strengthening institutional resilience. The framework provides a formalization of a socio-technical analytical approach where technological enablers increase the operational potential of hybrid threats, institutional and communication vulnerabilities determine the risk of being exposed to such threats, and the effects of those go beyond the technical aspect and include the issue of credibility of information and political stability. The notion of resilience, thus, requires comprehensive technological, organizational, informational, legal, educational, and cooperative efforts.