Threat Actor Motivations Flashcards
(12 cards)
What are the Threat Actors Intent?
Specific objective or goal that a threat actor is aiming to achieve through their attack
What are the Threat Actors Motivation?
Underlying reasons or driving forces that pushes a threat actor to carry out their attack
What is the motivation for Data Exfiltration?
Unauthorized transfer of data from a computer in order to:
Sell it on the dark web
Use it for identity theft
Leveraging it for a competitive advantage
What is the motivation for Financial Gain?
Achieved through ransomware attacks, or through banking trojans that allow them to steal financial information in order to gain unauthorized access into the victims’ bank accounts
What is the motivation for Blackmail?
Attacker obtains sensitive or compromising information about an individual or an organization and threatens to release this information to the public unless certain demands are met
What is the motivation for Service Disruption?
Some threat actors aim to disrupt the services of various organizations, either to cause chaos, make a political statement, or to demand a ransom
What is the motivation for Philosophical or Politcal Beliefs
Attacks that are conducted due to the philosophical or political beliefs of the attackers is known as hacktivism
What is the motivation for Ethical Reasons?
Contrary to malicious threat actors, ethical hackers, also known as Authorized hackers, are motivated by a desire to improve security
What is the motivation for Revenge?
A threat actor that wants to target an entity that they believe has wronged them in some way
What is the motivation for Disruption or Chaos?
Creating and spreading malware to launching sophisticated cyberattacks against the critical infrastructure in a populated city to challenge themselves or for the fun of it
What is the motivation for Espionage?
Spying on individuals, organizations, or nations to gather sensitive or classified information
What is the motivation for War?
Cyberwarfare can be used to disrupt a country’s infrastructure, compromise its national security, and cause economic damage
