Threat Actor

A Threat Actor is an agent that performs actions with the intent to cause harm to digital systems.

• Context:
  • It can include a wide range of malicious activities, from cyber espionage and data theft to sabotage and ransomware attacks.
  • It can include individuals, groups, organizations, or even nation-states with varying levels of skill, resources, and motivations.
  • It can (typically) operate with varying degrees of sophistication and resources, from lone hackers to well-funded state-sponsored agencies.
  • It can (often) exploit vulnerabilities in software and systems to gain unauthorized access, steal information, or disrupt services.
  • It can have diverse motivations, including financial gain, political influence, ideological beliefs, or simply the desire to cause disruption.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • A State-Affiliated Threat Actor, such as groups sponsored by national governments to conduct cyber espionage or cyber warfare.
  • Cybercriminals, who engage in illegal activities online for financial gain, such as phishing, identity theft, and selling stolen data.
  • Hacktivists, who use hacking to promote political agendas, social change, or ideological beliefs.
  • Insider Threats, individuals within an organization who misuse their access to harm the organization through theft, data leakage, or sabotage.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Cybersecurity Analyst, a professional who protects information systems by identifying and mitigating threats.
  • Ethical Hacker, a security expert who performs controlled attacks on systems with permission to strengthen their security.
• See: Advanced Persistent Threat, Computer Network, Malice (Law), Threat, Vulnerability, Cybercrime, Nation State, Ideology, Cybersecurity Measure, Information Security.

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References

2024

• (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threat_actor Retrieved:2024-2-22.
  • A threat actor, bad actor or malicious actor is either a person or a group of people that take part in an action that is intended to cause harm to the cyber realm including: computers, devices, systems, or networks. The term is typically used to describe individuals or groups that perform malicious acts against a person or an organization of any type or size. Threat actors engage in cyber related offenses to exploit open vulnerabilities and disrupt operations. Threat actors have different educational backgrounds, skills, and resources. The frequency and classification of cyber attacks changes rapidly. The background of threat actors helps dictate who they target, how they attack, and what information they seek. There are a number of threat actors including: cyber criminals, nation-state actors, ideologues, thrill seekers/trolls, insiders, and competitors. These threat actors all have distinct motivations, techniques, targets, and uses of stolen data. See Advanced persistent threats for a list of identified threat actors.

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