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Security Operations · Foundational

Threat Actor

An individual or group that carries out or intends to carry out malicious activity against an organization's systems or data.

Definition

A threat actor is the "who" behind an attack, characterized by attributes such as motivation, sophistication, resources, funding and whether they are internal or external. Common categories include nation-state actors, organized crime, hacktivists, insider threats and unskilled attackers. Understanding the actor helps defenders predict likely targets, techniques and persistence.

Example

A ransomware gang that buys network access and encrypts a hospital's servers for payment is a financially motivated threat actor.

Exam tip

Expect questions that give a scenario and ask you to match it to the actor type by motivation and resources, not by the tool used.

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