thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69
Enroll

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

Security Operations · Foundational

Nation-State Actor

A threat actor sponsored or directed by a government, with high sophistication, funding and strategic goals.

Definition

Nation-state actors conduct espionage, sabotage, influence operations and pre-positioning against foreign governments, defense contractors and critical infrastructure. They have the highest level of resources and capability of any actor type and may use zero-day exploits and supply chain compromises. Their activity is often tracked as APT groups.

Example

Volt Typhoon pre-positioning in US critical infrastructure networks is attributed to a nation-state.

Exam tip

If the scenario mentions unlimited funding, zero-days and geopolitical targets, choose nation-state.

Don't confuse it with

Related terms