A brief introduction to the common types of cyber threats and threat actors.
A cyber threat is any possible malicious act that seeks to damage data, steal data, or disrupt digital life in general. Understanding the landscape of these threats is the first step toward building effective defenses. Threats can be broadly categorized. Malware, or malicious software, is a vast category that includes viruses, worms, trojans, and spyware, all designed to cause damage or gain unauthorized access to a computer system. Phishing is a form of social engineering where attackers trick users into revealing sensitive information, like passwords or credit card numbers, by posing as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks aim to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic. The actors behind these threats are just as varied. They range from individual 'script kiddies' using pre-made tools, to organized cybercriminal groups motivated by financial gain, to 'hacktivists' driven by a political or social agenda. At the most sophisticated level are state-sponsored actors who conduct cyber espionage or warfare, targeting corporations and government agencies to gain a strategic advantage. The motivation for these attacks can be anything from financial profit and industrial espionage to political disruption and activism. A comprehensive security strategy must consider not just the types of attacks but also the potential actors and their motivations.