What Threat Actors Are Generally Believed To Be The Most Dangerous Threat Actors?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Hackers that are backed by the resources of a nation-state

are often the most dangerous type of threat actor. Using tactics like DDoS, cyber reconnaissance and advanced malware, state-sponsored hackers are able to access company data that they can use to influence whole industries on an international scale.

What threat actors are most dangerous?

  • Sandworm (a.k.a. Telebots, Electrum, Voodoo Bear, Iron Viking)
  • Evil Corp (a.k.a. Indrik Spider)
  • Fancy Bear (a.k.a. APT28, Sofacy, Sednit, Strontium)
  • LuckyMouse (a.k.a. Emissary Panda, Iron Tiger, APT27)
  • REvil (a.k.a. Sodinokibi, Pinchy Spider—related to GandCrab)
  • Wizard Spider.

Who are the main threat actors?

  • 1) Organized Cyber Criminals. The threat actor that businesses are most likely to ‘meet’ are organized cybercriminals. …
  • 2) APT Groups. …
  • 3) Insider Threats. …
  • 5) Hacktivists (Activist Hackers) …
  • Final Thoughts.

What is the most common class of threat actors?

  • State-Sponsored Actor. Target: Any and every computer. …
  • Organized Cybercriminals. Target: Enterprises. …
  • Hacktivists. Target: Government entities, corporations, or individuals. …
  • The Lone Wolf. Target: Financial institutions and their networks.

What are some examples of threat actors?

Political, Economic, Technical, and Military Agendas: Threat actors such as

Hacktivists and Government-Backed Actors

share such motivations. They are focused and have a set objective/target in mind when they start planning an attack.

Who are advanced threat actors?

An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a

stealthy threat actor

, typically a nation state or state-sponsored group, which gains unauthorized access to a computer network and remains undetected for an extended period.

Which type of malicious actor is the most likely to have the most resources and funding?

1.

Organized Crime

– Making Money from Cyber. The number one threat for most organizations at present comes from criminals seeking to make money.

Which threat actor has the most resources?


Nation-states

are frequently the most sophisticated threat actors, with dedicated resources and personnel, and extensive planning and coordination. Some nation-states have operational relationships with private sector entities and organized criminals.

What are cybersecurity threat actors?

A Cyber Threat Actor (CTA) is

a participant (person or group) in an action or process that is characterized by malice or hostile action (intending harm) using computers, devices, systems

, or networks.

Who is also called threat actor in the context of security?

A threat actor, also called a

malicious actor or bad actor

, is an entity that is partially or wholly responsible for an incident that impacts – or has the potential to impact — an organization’s security. In threat intelligence, actors are generally categorized as external, internal or partner.

What do threat actors do?

Types of threat actors

And threat actors are people/groups that

create or take advantage of such circumstances or events to perform a malicious act

. Some also sort threat actors as intentional or unintentional and external or internal.

What type of threat is posed by cybercrime?

  • Hacking – including of social media and email passwords.
  • Phishing – bogus emails asking for security information and personal details.
  • Malicious software – including ransomware through which criminals hijack files and hold them to ransom.

What are threat actors attacking?

Cyber threat actors, or simply threat actors, are groups of

individuals who locate and attack technological vulnerabilities

—via information systems, networks, domains, devices, and other potentially breachable windows—and then leverage stolen data to accomplish a variety of goals, most commonly for financial gain.

Which three types of threat actor are most likely to have high levels of funding?

Which three types of threat actor are most likely to have high levels of funding?

State actors, criminal syndicates, and competitors

.

Which of the following are insider threats?

Insider threats manifest in various ways:

violence, espionage, sabotage, theft, and cyber acts

. Expressions of insider threat are defined in detail below.

What motivates threat actors and how they pick their targets?

They are typically motivated by

political, economic, technical, or military agendas

. They are often looking for competitive information, resources, or users that can be exploited for espionage purposes.

What is an example of an advanced persistent threat?

ADVANCED PERSISTENT THREAT EXAMPLES

APTs are usually sponsored by nations or very large organizations. Examples of APTs include

Stuxnet

, which took down Iran’s nuclear program, and Hydraq. … Operation Aurora, which reportedly originated in China, used a zero-day exploit to install a malicious Trojan horse named Hydraq.

Which of the following is typically used by threat actors security analyst?

Answer:

Unauthenticated scans

is typically utilized by malicious actors or security analysts trying to control the security posture of externally accessible assets.

Which tool is most commonly associated with nation-state threat actors?


Ransomware

is the most commonly used tool of nation-state cybercriminals.

What characteristics differentiate the types of cybersecurity threat actors?

  • Nation-state actors. …
  • Organized crime. …
  • Hacktivists. …
  • Inside actors. …
  • Script Kiddies. …
  • Use of open-source intelligence.

What kind of threat actor is politically motivated?


A hacktivist

is any individual whose attacks are politically motivated. A competitor threat actor carries out attacks on behalf of an organization and targets competing companies. A script kiddie is a threat actor who lacks knowledge and sophistication.

Who are the threat agents?

  • A Threat Actor or Threat Agent is a party that is responsible for, or attempts to bring about, harm to an organization. …
  • Threat actors can be persons, groups, or entities and they are sometimes referred to as malicious actors.

What is an external threat actor?

External Actors. External threats originate

from sources outside of the organization and its network of partners

. Examples include criminal groups, lone hackers, former employees, and government entities. Also includes God (as in “acts of”), “Mother Nature,” and random chance.

What are types of threats?

Threats can be classified into four different categories;

direct, indirect, veiled, conditional

.

Who is most likely to be a victim of cybercrime?

Nearly one-third (32 per cent) of Millennials have reported a cyber crime. Following up, some 43 per cent of Gen X, who are aged 41 to 56, have reported a cyber crime while the most likely to report cyber crime are

Baby Boomers

, aged 57 to 75, as 64 per cent of them have done so.

What are the various cyber threats?

  • Malware. Malware is a term used to describe malicious software, including spyware, ransomware, viruses, and worms. …
  • Phishing. …
  • Man-in-the-middle attack. …
  • Denial-of-service attack. …
  • SQL injection. …
  • Zero-day exploit. …
  • DNS Tunneling.

Which of the following describes the threat actor group called script kiddies?

* A script kiddie is a

threat actor who lacks skills and sophistication but wants to impress their friends or garner attention

. Script kiddies carry out an attack by using scripts or programs written by more advance hackers.

Which of the following terms defines a threat vector ‘?

A threat vector is a path or a means by

which a cybercriminal gains access through one or more of six main routes into a computer system by exploiting a route vulnerability

(also called an attack surface).

Amira Khan
Author
Amira Khan
Amira Khan is a philosopher and scholar of religion with a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology. Amira's expertise includes the history of philosophy and religion, ethics, and the philosophy of science. She is passionate about helping readers navigate complex philosophical and religious concepts in a clear and accessible way.