Although the term ‘threat actor’ is often used interchangeably with ‘hackers’, hackers and threat actors are not one and the same. Ahackeris someone who uses their computer skills to overcome a challenge or problem, for better or for worse, while threat actors almost always have malicious ...
A threat actor, also called a malicious actor or bad actor, is an entity that is partially or wholly responsible for an incidentthat affects -- or has the potential to affect -- an organization's security.Threat actors can be individuals working alone or groups of individuals working in conc...
Types of threat actors The term threat actor is broad and relatively all-encompassing, extending to any person or group that poses a threat to cybersecurity. Threat actors are often categorized into different types based on their motivation and to a lesser degree, their level of sophistication. ...
This term is used when a threat actor comes from inside a company. Sometimes the threat actor hides their intentions and makes their way into an organization by getting hiredasan employee. But it could also refer to a current or former employeethatbecomes tempted by outside threat actors to ...
Hackers sometimes target governments and businesses based on opposition to their target’s ideology. “Anonymous” is a popular hacktivist group made up of people from all over the world, but other hacktivists might work alone. These threat actors are generally not financially motivated, seeking to...
Utilise employee awareness training: Use security awareness training to teach employees how to spot likely insider threat actors and make them aware of behavioural risk indicators. Conduct regular audits and reviews: Conduct regular audits and reviews of your security policies, procedures, and technologie...
Shortage of skilled professionals that can cope with the growing variety of threat actors. Apart from addressing these issues, when well implemented, cyber threat intelligence can also: 1. Reduce costs Threat intelligence can allow you to avoid costs such as fines, investigation expenses, loss of ...
instance, they may contain a list of domain names orInternet Protocol (IP) addresseswhere questionable activity has been detected by security analysts. Threat intelligence can also involve analyses of particular threat actors' behavior, identifying the tools and procedures hackers use in their attacks....
Careless insider—an innocent pawn who unknowingly exposes the system to outside threats. This is the most common type of insider threat, resulting from mistakes, such as leaving a device exposed or falling victim to a scam. For example, an employee who intends no harm may click on an insec...
Unlike traditional incident detection programs, which are purely reactive, threat hunting isa proactive approachto identifying threat actors on your network that you might not already be detecting well. Threat hunting helps you address threats before they cause significant damage. ...