Chapter 2 Exploring Cybersecurity Threats
1. Exploring Cyber Security Threats
1.4. Threat Actors p2

Audio
Transcript
So threat actors Part 2, so we're going to talk a little bit more about threat actors in this slide. So the first is nation state attackers. They present advanced persistent threats, APT's and zero day attacks. So let's talk about.
1st When nation state actor is it just means they're sponsored by a country.
So they may be sponsored by Russia, China, North Korea, any country that doesn't like us or doesn't like whatever country you're in could sponsor an attack. So that means they're funding it. They're paying the hackers, they're providing the computing power, whatever's needed.
That's the nation state attacker. So you know, just just keep that in mind. So then what is an advanced persistent threat? That means they're sophisticated, the threats are advance.
It's.
It's not a script, Kitty. These are people that actually know what they're doing and can get into your system if you screw up and the threats are persistent, which means they're not going to stop after they fail the first time. They're not going to stop after they fail the 1st 100 times, they're going to keep coming.
They may go, retool and then come back, but they're definitely not going away as long as they have a mission.
So a nation state actor, you know, they're being paid by government, so they don't. They're getting paid. They don't. You know, they're they are not going anywhere. They are going to keep coming and coming and coming. And you've got to find a way to keep stopping them and stopping them and stopping them.
So then zero day attacks, so zero day attack is the attack where?
That that flaw or that way they got in has never occurred before. And so it's new. It's a new attack. No one has a way to.
Defeat it yet.
Microsoft hasn't put out a security patch, or Apple hasn't put out a security patch that will stop the.
00 day attack.
Basically, these exploits or these vulnerabilities are unknown, so that's you know, it's the first day, it's day zero, Ground Zero. So they're called zero day attacks. And then another thing is insider threats. So we talked about insider attacks occurring when an employee contract.
Vendor or other person that's authorized to be there. They have authorized access to information.
Do they? They decide to do something to.
Hurt you for one reason or another. Whether they're disgruntled, whether they're person that's doing the same job, them making more money, they didn't get time off that they wanted. Whatever the reason is, they are an insider threat. They're inside. So and the threat of shadow.
It as dedicated employees often seek to achieve their goals and objectives through whatever means allows them to do so. Sometimes this involves purchasing technology services that aren't approved by the organization.
So shadow it means that I've purchased either software or hardware that is not approved by my network admin or whoever needs to approve those purchases and it could be harmful to the network. It could have vulnerabilities, it could be simply as it.
Collects information and resells it. It could be an access point. You know, it just is it equipment or it software that's not approved, not allowed on the system and therefore it's what's called shadow IT.
And then the last thing is competitors. So we talked about this, I believe back in chapter one.
Where you know if you're Ford or Chevy GM and you've just come out with the way to make an electrical vehicle, be able to travel across the whole country on one charge, I can guarantee you every other company wants to get that.
That.
Outlets, and so competitors may try to ask if I hack you to steal that knowledge and not necessarily, you know, if it's GM or not necessarily talking about Ford. But you know China might do that. North Korea might do that because when they have it, then they can sell it. And you know, China can use it to strengthen their own.
Economy and strengthen their own, you know, standing in the world. So competitors, competitors is anybody that can use the technology that you.
Have for whatever they're doing, and if you have the latest and greatest technology and they don't, they may want to try to steal that from you. So there was just a big thing last year at the end of last year where Apple, if you had an Apple Watch, it could do it could tell you
Your blood oxygen.
Level well, Apple lost the lawsuit where they're being sued by the company that makes that for medical equipment because they didn't have authorization to use that. And Apple lost lawsuit and had to take all of their watches with the exception of some older ones off the market and that feature.
Had to be removed so you know you could for a while there. I think you can now the Apple 9 watches are back up or Apple eights but for a while there all you could buy is the Apple SE or the Apple 2.
And it's because they they stole a competitors technology and used it and almost got away with it, but they lost the lawsuit. So, you know, it's not always nefarious. You know, you would think, oh, that's cool. Watch can do that. But that was somebody else's, you know, technology.
Intellectual property and they stole it.