What is a threat actor?

Threat actors (or malicious actors) are individuals or groups who pose a threat to an organisation’s cybersecurity. Threat actors typically engage in activities designed to harm, disrupt or compromise an organisation’s systems and overall operations. Their motives range from financial gain and political activism to espionage, malicious intent or personal grievances. Threat actors exploit vulnerabilities using tactics like malware, phishing or denial-of-service attacks to achieve their goals.

Their sophisticated methods can lead to significant consequences, including financial losses, data breaches, infrastructure disruption and compromised personal or even national security.

Cybersecurity professionals continuously develop strategies to detect, prevent and mitigate threat actor activities, using tools like threat intelligence, advanced threat detection systems, encryption, network monitoring and proactive security protocols.

Different types of threat actors and how they attack

There are 5 types of threat actors, each with distinct methods:

  • Hackers – Skilled individuals who exploit vulnerabilities in systems and networks
  • Insider threats – Employees or contractors who misuse their access to sensitive information
  • Organised crime groups – Criminal organisations that use cyberattacks to generate revenue
  • Nation-state actors – Governments that use cyberattacks to achieve political or military objectives
  • Hacktivists – Individuals or groups who use hacking techniques to promote political or social causes

While motives vary, the techniques used by threat actors remain largely the same. These include phishing, malware or exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities.

Famous examples of threat actors

Some famous examples of threat actors include:

Nation-state actors:

  • Fancy Bear (Russia) – Linked to Russian military intelligence, known for election interference
  • Lazarus Group (North Korea) – Responsible for high-profile attacks like the Sony Pictures hack and global cryptocurrency thefts
  • Equation Group (USA) – Associated with NSA’s cyber warfare capabilities

Criminal groups:

  • REvil (Russia) – Infamous ransomware syndicate targeting corporations worldwide
  • Carbanak Gang – Sophisticated cybercriminal group that stole over $1 billion from financial institutions
  • DarkSide – Responsible for the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021

Hacktivist collectives:

  • Anonymous – A decentralised activist group targeting governments and organisations who first received notoriety for attacks on the Church of Scientology for internet censorship
  • Lizard Squad – Known for disrupting online gaming platforms

Each group of threat actors have distinctive techniques, motivations and impact on global cybersecurity landscapes.

What are threat actor groups?

Threat actor groups are organised collectives that systematically plan and execute malicious cyber activities. These groups, such as Conti (ransomware operators) or APT41 (Chinese-linked cyberespionage), often operate with structured hierarchies and tools, making their campaigns highly coordinated.

The structured hierarchies and specialised roles within these groups are often combined with sophisticated tools and coordinated strategies when carrying out attacks. They invest significantly in research, tool development and maintaining persistent access to targeted systems. Their motivations range from financial profit and political ideology to strategic disruption and intelligence gathering.

Threat actor groups continuously evolve their techniques, adapting to emerging cybersecurity technologies and developing increasingly complex attack methodologies.

Threat actor vs hacker

While all threat actors are technically hackers, not all hackers are threat actors. Threat actors specifically intend to cause strategic harm through pre-planned malicious activities, typically motivated by financial, political or ideological objectives. They focus on comprehensive, goal-oriented cyber operations with clear, harmful intentions.

Hackers, by contrast, can be categorised more broadly, including ethical white hat hackers who help organisations identify vulnerabilities and unethical black hat hackers who may exploit systems. The critical distinction lies in their intentions: threat actors always aim to create damage, while hackers may act from curiosity or constructive motivations.

Organisations as threat actors

Government and non-government organisations can be identified as threat actors due to their involvement in cyber activities targeting entities for political, economic or ideological purposes.

Government-linked threat actors consist of nation-states which often sponsor advanced persistent threat (APT) groups to conduct cyber espionage or intellectual property theft. Examples include:

  • APT29 (Cozy Bear) – Allegedly tied to Russian intelligence, targeting governments and critical industries
  • PLA Unit 61398 – A Chinese military unit linked to intellectual property theft
  • Lazarus Group – North Korea-backed, targeting financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges

Non-government threat actors on the other hand include organised cybercriminal gangs, hacktivist groups and independent entities. Notable examples are:

  • Revil – A ransomware group known for high-profile attacks on businesses
  • Anonymous – A hacktivist collective targeting governments and corporations over political or social issues
  • Conti – Specialising in ransomware targeting global businesses

Governments like the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and private firms regularly track and report on such actors, aiding global threat awareness.

Threat actor techniques and tactics

Threat actors employ a range of methods including phishing, social engineering, ransomware, malware, denial-of-service attacks and advanced persistent threats (APTs).

Their approaches begin with extensive reconnaissance, including open-source intelligence gathering, social media profiling and network scanning to identify potential vulnerabilities. Initial access methods used by threat actors frequently involve phishing emails, credential stuffing and exploiting unpatched software weaknesses.

Threat actor targets

Threat actors strategically target diverse entities across multiple domains, including government institutions, critical infrastructure, private sector organisations and individual high-value targets. Their selection criteria involve assessing potential financial gains, strategic value, data sensitivity and system vulnerabilities.

Government targets might include national defence systems, intelligence agencies and public service networks. Private sector targets range from financial institutions and healthcare organisations to technology companies and energy infrastructure. Critical infrastructure like power grids, transportation networks and telecommunications systems remain particularly attractive targets.

Motivation drives target selection, with threat actors pursuing objectives such as financial gain, political disruption, espionage and competitive intelligence gathering. They increasingly focus on emerging technological domains like cloud infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

How to stay ahead of threat actors

Staying ahead of threat actors requires a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. Organisations must implement advanced technological defences, including multi-layered security systems, continuous vulnerability scanning and zero-trust architectural principles. Proactive measures like threat hunting and actionable threat intelligence help organisations anticipate and mitigate potential risks.

Regular system updates and robust encryption mechanisms are crucial defensive strategies. Organisational practices play an equally important role, involving continuous employee cybersecurity training, simulated attack exercises and developing clear incident response protocols. Importantly, proactive measures like threat hunting and integrated threat intelligence help anticipate and mitigate against potential risks.

Remaining ahead of threat actors ultimately depends on organisations maintaining adaptive, integrated approaches that combine technological innovation, human expertise and strategic planning.

FAQs

What is a threat actor?

A threat actor is an individual, group or organisation conducting malicious activities to harm systems or steal data. Threat actors are often motived by financial gain, espionage or political agendas.

What is an example of a threat actor?

One famous example of a threat actor is the Lazarus Group, linked to North Korea, known for the Sony Pictures hack and global cryptocurrency thefts.

What is the difference between a threat actor and an attacker?

A threat actor refers to the entity orchestrating malicious activities, while an attacker typically describes an individual executing a specific cyberattack. All attackers are threat actors, but not all threat actors directly carry out attacks.

How do threat actors choose their targets?

Threat actors choose targets based on their motives, such as financial gain or espionage. Threat actors also aim to exploit vulnerabilities in industries like healthcare, finance or critical infrastructure, where disruption can yield maximum impact.

Threat actors and Silobreaker

Silobreaker’s threat intelligence platform provides a holistic view of an organisation’s evolving threat landscape, including proactively detecting and responding to threats based on threat actor capabilities, motivations and intent. 

Silobreaker consolidates unstructured, dark web and premium data sources into actionable intelligence that can be delivered using bespoke dashboards, reports and real-time alerts. It identifies the common tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) from hackers (including threat actors), alongside specific indicators of compromise (IoCs) relevant to the industry and region in which you operate.

Silobreaker empowers organisations to understand threat actors by analysing real-time data from diverse sources, providing actionable insights into threat actor motives, tactics and campaigns, helping organisations pre-empt and mitigate risks.

By monitoring discussions, emerging trends and specific IoCs, Silobreaker helps you anticipate threat actor threats, identify likely targets and take proactive measures to safeguard your systems. This intelligence not only allows early detection of threat, but also helps you respond more effectively and stay ahead of adversaries.

Find out more about how Silobreaker can help your organisation to identify threat actor and other emerging threats and make intelligence-led decisions here.