Wondering who the cyber attackers are? With the global growth of cyber-crime continuing throughout the year, high-profile cyber-attacks continue to be reported daily. But who are the cyber attackers and what motivates them to perform illegal and such potentially damaging activities?
With a few exceptions, the cyber attackers tend to remain unknown and anonymous. There are a number of different types of cyber attackers:
Categories of cyber attackers
- Cyber criminals – both individuals and organisations
- Nation states – engaged in cyber war and espionage
- Companies – competitive disruption and theft of intellectual property
- Hacktivists – political and terrorist organisations
- Employees of companies – malicious, manipulated or by accident
- Hobby hackers – it’s just for fun
Just for profit
The ‘low-risk-high-return’ nature of cyber-crime has attracted existing criminal organisations and nurtured the growth of a new generation of highly qualified entrepreneurial hackers.
Low-cost cyber-crime services
Many cyber-attacks are executed by inexperienced criminals who purchase specialist products and services from third party suppliers operating on the Dark Web.
State-sponsored cyber attack
The nature of warfare has shifted from physical to online and has produced a deluge of state-sponsored cyber assaults on countries throughout the world. It is widely agreed that Russia is one of the most accomplished nations in the world in its ability to perform state-sponsored attacks, disinformation and espionage. China, North Korea and Iran are also known to have dedicated cyber arsenals that are of an increasing threat to the West.
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The Wizard Cyber security review provides an independent and in-depth assessment of the ability of an organisation to protect its information assets from the impact of cyber threats. The cyber security review aims to establish and validate the effectiveness of cyber security measures. It also identifies vulnerabilities in an IT system and matches them to potential internal and external cyber threats.
