Threat Actor Motivations

Question 1

Threat Actors Intent

Answer 1

Specific objectives or goal that a threat actor is aiming to achieve through their attack

Question 2

Threat Actors Motivations

Answer 2

Underlying reasons or driving forces that pushes a threat actor to carry out their attack

Question 3

Data Exfiltration

Answer 3

Unauthorized transfer of data from a computer

Question 4

Financial gain

Answer 4

Achieved through various means, such as ransomware attacks, or through banking trojans that allow them to steal financial information in order to gain unauthorized access into the victims’ bank accounts

Question 5

Blackmail

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Service Disruption

Answer 6

Some threat actors aim to disrupt the services of various organizations, either to cause chaos, make a political statement, or to demand ransom

Question 7

Philosophical or Political Beliefs

Answer 7

Attacks that are conducted due to the philosophical or political beliefs of the attackers is known as hacktivism

Question 8

Ethical reasons

Answer 8

Ethical hackers or authorized hackers are motivated by a desire to improve security

Question 8

Revenge

Answer 8

Motivation for a threat actor that wants to target an entity that they believe has wronged them in some way

Question 9

Disruption or Chaos

Answer 9

Creating and spreading malware to launch sophisticated cyberattacks against the critical infrastructure in a populated city

Question 10

Espionage

Answer 10

Spying on individuals, organizations, or nations to gather sensitive or classified information

Question 11

War

Answer 11

Cyber warfare can be used to disrupt a country’s infrastructure, compromise its national security, and to cause economic damage