2A: Explain Threat Actor Types and Attack Vectors Flashcards
Which of the following would be assessed by likelihood and impact: vulnerability, threat, or risk?
Risk
True or false? Nation-state actors primarily only pose a risk to another state’s government?
False—nation state actors have targeted commercial interests for theft, espionage, and extortion.
You receive an email with a screenshot showing a command prompt at one of your application servers. The email suggests you engage the hacker for a day’s consultancy to patch the vulnerability. How should you categorize this threat?
This is either gray hat (semi-authorized) hacking or black hat (non-authorized) hacking. If the request for compensation via consultancy is an extortion threat (if refused, the hacker sells the exploit on the dark web), then the motivation is purely financial gain and can be categorized as black hat. If the consultancy is refused and the hacker takes no further action, it can be classed as gray hat.
Which type of threat actor is primarily motivated by the desire for social change?
Hacktivist
Which three types of threat actor are most likely to have high levels of funding?
State actors, criminal syndicates, and competitors.
You are assisting with writing an attack surface assessment report for a small company. Review the headings below and determine which two potential attack vectors have been omitted:
Direct access, Email, Remote and wireless, Web and social media, Cloud.
Removable media and supply chain.
What is APT
advanced persistent threat
An attacker’s ability to obtain, maintain, and diversify access to network systems using exploits and malware.
What is an attack surface
ALL the points at which a network or application receives external connections or inputs/outputs that are potential vectors to be exploited by a threat actor.
What is an attack vector?
A specific path by which a threat actor gains unauthorized access to a system. Also referred to as a vector
What is a black hat?
A hacker operating with malicious intent.
What are criminal syndicates
A type of threat actor that uses hacking and computer fraud for commercial gain. Also referred to as organized crime.
what is a gray hat?
A hacker who analyzes networks without seeking authorization, but without overtly malicious intent.
What is a hacker?
Often used to refer to someone who breaks into computer systems or spreads viruses
Ethical Hackers prefer to think of themselves as experts on and explorers of computer security systems.
What is a hacktivist?
A threat actor that is motivated by a social issue or political cause.
What is an insider threat?
A threat actor who has assigned privileges on the system that cause an intentional or unintentional incident.
