False Flag

Definitions

A deceptive tactic meant to make an intrusion, malware family, or campaign appear to come from a different actor than the real one. In cyber operations, false-flag indicators can include reused code, planted language clues, or infrastructure chosen to mislead investigators.
In plain English: A deliberate attempt to make an attack look like it came from someone else.
Example: "The malware's Russian strings looked like a false flag once analysts compared them with the rest of the tooling."