Threat Actors

Digitization has facilitated and improved our lives by automating and accelerating processes and procedures, on the other hand, this evolution exposes users to cyber threats where information is the new gold.

"If you know yourself but not your enemy, for each victory achieved, you will suffer a defeat" Sun Tzu - the art of war.

So who are our enemies or threat actors in cyberspace?

Threat actors, bad entities aka hackers nowadays, are not limited to IT-savvy people, they are typically everyone who is always looking for gaps to obtain and exploit sensitive personal, financial, and organizational data or information, which is otherwise inaccessible to them.

1. White Hat Hackers

White hat or ethical hackers are individuals who use their professed hacking skills for defensive purposes according to the permission of the system owner.

2. Black Hat Hackers

Black hat hackers have extraordinary computing skills, and they resort to malicious or destructive activities.

3. Gray Hat Hackers

Gray hat hackers work both offensively and defensively at various times, they contradict the laws and permission when they limited their activities.

4. Script Kiddies

Script kiddies are unskilled hackers who compromise a system by running scripts, tools, and software that were developed by real hackers.

5. Green Hat Hackers

Green hat hackers are hackers in the learning phase, their intent is to refine and acquire skills to become full-fledged hackers.

6. Blue Hat Hackers

Blue hat hackers use hacking as a weapon to settle scores with their adversaries and gain popularity.

7. Red Hat Hackers

Red hat hackers intend to stop the attack of black hat hackers as white hat hackers. The difference between them is that red hat hackers are very strict when facing black hat hackers or malware and they continue their hacking activities even if they will harm the system.

8. Nation Sponsored Hackers

State or nation-sponsored hackers are employed by the government to penetrate, damage, or/and gain top-secret information from other government systems.

9. Hacktivist

Hacktivists promote a political and social agenda by hacking, especially by defacing or disabling websites.

10. Cyber Terrorist

Cyber terrorists are skilled hackers motivated by religious or ideological beliefs to create fear through networks defending their ideas and parties.

11. Cyber Warriors

Cyber warriors are very skilled hackers who act for national and military interests, they can perform zero-day attacks, espionage, extortion, and embarrassment as they can destroy critical infrastructures.

12. Cybercriminals

Cybercriminals are motivated by making money, they generally perform ransomware attacks.

13. Suicide Hackers

Suicide hackers, they aim to destroy critical infrastructure for a cause and are not worried about facing jail terms or any punishment.

14. Malicious Insiders

Malicious insiders or Whistleblower are individuals working in an organization who may disclose confidential information for personal or unintended reasons.

The types and impact of cyber attacks vary according to the type of hackers who are in exponential development that requires not only organizations but also individuals to keep up with cybersecurity precautions.