What Are Threat Actors?

Understanding threat actors helps security teams prioritize defenses. A small business doesn’t need to defend against nation-state capabilities. A defense contractor can’t ignore them. Knowing who targets your organization shapes your security investments.

Threat actor attribution also aids incident response. When you understand who attacked you, you can better predict their next moves and remediate more effectively.

What Are the Main Types of Threat Actors?

Threat actors fall into several categories based on motivation and capability.

Nation-State Actors

Government-sponsored hackers conduct espionage, sabotage, and influence operations. They have significant resources and advanced capabilities.

Motivations. Intelligence collection, military advantage, economic espionage, and political influence. Nation-states target government agencies, defense contractors, critical infrastructure, and organizations holding valuable intellectual property.

Capabilities. Nation-state actors often have zero-day exploits, custom malware, and the patience for long-term operations. Groups like APT29 (Russia), APT41 (China), and Lazarus Group (North Korea) are well-documented examples.

Credential focus. Even advanced threat actors prefer the easy path. Stolen credentials from dark web markets or phishing provide initial access without burning expensive exploits.

Cybercriminals

Financially motivated attackers conduct ransomware attacks, business email compromise, and fraud. Cybercrime has industrialized into an ecosystem of specialized services.

Motivations. Profit drives everything. Cybercriminals calculate return on investment. They target organizations likely to pay ransoms or have valuable data to sell.

Capabilities. Capabilities vary widely. Ransomware-as-a-service lets low-skill attackers deploy advanced malware. Initial access brokers sell network access to anyone who pays.

Credential economy. Cybercriminals heavily rely on stolen credentials. Infostealer malware harvests credentials that get sold on dark web markets. Initial access brokers filter these logs for valuable corporate access.

Hacktivists

Ideologically motivated attackers target organizations they oppose politically, socially, or economically. Hacktivism ranges from website defacement to data leaks.

Motivations. Political beliefs, social causes, and grievances against specific organizations. Anonymous and various splinter groups exemplify hacktivist operations.

Capabilities. Generally lower than nation-states or organized crime, but sufficient for disruptive attacks. DDoS attacks, defacement, and data leaks are common tactics.

Targeting. Hacktivists choose targets based on ideology rather than profit. Organizations in controversial industries or those taking unpopular positions face higher risk.

Insider Threats

Malicious insiders abuse their legitimate access for personal gain or to harm the organization. They may be current employees, contractors, or recently departed staff.

Motivations. Financial gain, revenge against the organization, ideology, or coercion by external actors. Insiders may also be negligent rather than malicious.

Capabilities. Insiders already have access. They don’t need to breach perimeter defenses. Their knowledge of internal systems makes them particularly dangerous.

Detection challenges. Insider activity looks like normal work until it doesn’t. Behavioral analytics and access monitoring help identify anomalies.

How Do Threat Actors Operate?

Despite different motivations, threat actors share common operational patterns.

Initial access. Attackers need a way in. Phishing and stolen credentials are the most common methods. According to Verizon’s DBIR, stolen credentials are involved in most breaches.

Persistence. Once inside, attackers establish persistence to maintain access. This might involve creating new accounts, installing backdoors, or modifying existing systems.

Lateral movement. Attackers move through the network to reach their objectives. They harvest additional credentials and exploit trust relationships between systems.

Objective completion. The end goal varies by actor type: data exfiltration for spies, ransomware deployment for criminals, data leaks for hacktivists.

Covering tracks. Some attackers clean up evidence. Others don’t bother. Nation-state actors typically invest more in operational security.

How Do Threat Actors Get Credentials?

Credentials are valuable to all threat actor types.

Phishing. Social engineering remains effective. Attackers create convincing phishing pages to harvest credentials directly from users.

Infostealer malware. Malware like RedLine and Vidar harvests credentials from infected devices. The stolen data flows to operators who sell it on dark web markets.

Data breaches. When services get breached, credentials leak. Users who reuse passwords across services face credential stuffing attacks.

Purchase. Dark web markets sell credentials at scale. Initial access brokers specialize in corporate network access. Threat actors of all types buy what they need.

Credential monitoring. Dark web monitoring detects when your organization’s credentials appear on these markets. Early detection enables password resets before attackers exploit the exposure.

How Do You Assess Your Threat Landscape?

Understanding which threat actors target your organization shapes security strategy.

Industry matters. Defense contractors face nation-state threats. Retailers face financially motivated criminals. Controversial organizations face hacktivists. Consider your industry’s typical threat profile.

Data value. What data do you hold? Intellectual property attracts nation-state espionage. Customer financial data attracts criminals. Assess what you’re protecting.

Geographic factors. Organizations operating in certain regions face heightened nation-state interest. Political relationships and economic competition drive targeting.

Past incidents. Your history provides data. What threat actors have targeted you before? What tactics did they use? Past incidents predict future targeting.

Threat intelligence. Threat intelligence services provide information about active campaigns and threat actor activities relevant to your organization.

How Do You Defend Against Different Threat Actors?

Defense strategies should match your threat profile.

Against nation-states. Focus on defense in depth, assume breach mentality, and invest in detection. Nation-state actors may get in despite your defenses. Quick detection limits damage.

Against cybercriminals. Make yourself a harder target than alternatives. Basic security hygiene, email security, and credential monitoring address most criminal tactics.

Against hacktivists. Maintain awareness of your public perception. Prepare for DDoS and defacement. Have incident response and communication plans ready.

Against insiders. Implement least-privilege access, separation of duties, and behavioral monitoring. Background checks and security awareness reduce risk.

Universal defenses. All threat actors exploit stolen credentials. Credential monitoring provides value regardless of your threat profile. Strong authentication and security awareness help against everyone.

Conclusion

Threat actors range from well-funded nation-state operations to opportunistic criminals. Understanding who targets your organization helps prioritize security investments and build appropriate defenses.

Despite different motivations, all threat actors exploit stolen credentials. They buy them on dark web markets and harvest them through phishing. Infostealer malware captures credentials at scale. Credential monitoring addresses this attack vector regardless of threat actor type.

Check if your credentials are already exposed with a free dark web scan.