Unit 5 - Threat Actors

Question 1

Which are the 8 cyber attacker groups?

Answer 1

1) Nation States [H - Capability / H - Motivation]
2) Terroist Groups [M - Capability / H - Motivation]
3) Organised Criminal Groups [M - Capability / H - Motivation]
4) Hacktivist Communities (Hacktivism) [L - Capability / M - Motivation]
5) Skilled Professional Hackers [H - Capability / H - Motivation]
6) Disaffeted or Opportunistic Insiders [L - Capability / L - Motivation]
7) Amateur Hackers & Journalists [L - Capability / M - Motivation]
8) Anyone [L - Capability / L - Motivation]

Question 2

What is the motivation for attacks by Nation States?

Answer 2

• Acquire intelligence to prevent attacks and exert influence
• Theft of intellectual property to understand enemy capabilities and leverage info for domestic politial or financial gains
• Exert control over any foreign or domestic enemy, e.g. by remotely disabling critical enemy technologies and services

Question 3

What is the motivation for attacks by Terrorist Groups?

Answer 3

• Raise funds
• Create negative impact on enemies
• Raise profile

N.B. Attacks can create a lot of damage with relatively small resources.

Question 4

What is the motivation for attacks by Organised Criminal Groups?

Answer 4

• Money

Directly - stealing and using credit card info or accessing banking system

Indirectly - aquiring info that enables blackmail or other form of extortion

Question 5

What is the motivation for attacks by Hactivists?

Answer 5

• People involved believe they are serving the greater good
• Do not seek to raise funds
• Do not intentionally engage in crimes that directly harm people or affect people’s personal finances

N.B. If group doesn’t stay within these boundaries, would be a terrorist group.

Question 6

What is the motivation for attacks by Skilled Professional Hackers?

Answer 6

• Money

These are the professional assassins of cyber attack world.

Question 7

What is the motivation for attacks by Disaffected or Opportunistic Insiders?

Answer 7

Disaffected - The amount of damage that can be done to the person or enterprise by which they feel agrieved

Opportunisitic - Money, with low risk of being detected or losing job

Question 8

What is the motivation for attacks by Amateur Hackers and Journalists?

Answer 8

Journalists - obtain newsworthy information

Amateurs - ???

Question 9

What is the motivation for attacks by Anyone?

Answer 9

Money

Question 10

What 3 things have made it easier for Anyone to be able to launch cyber attacks?

Answer 10

1) No longer requires expertise and specialist tools. Software can be downloaded from internet, often free
2) Cost and potential value of successful cyber attack increased exponentially
3) Cyrptocurrencies hide identify of recipient, therefore can enable significant payments for ransom, extortion or other revenue

Question 11

Which 2 groups are the greatest threat and why?

Answer 11

1) Nation states
2) Skilled professional Hacker

Both of these groups are both highly motivated and have high capability for launching attack.