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Threat Actor

What is Threat Actor?

An individual or group that conducts cyber attacks or exploits vulnerabilities. Threat actors include nation-states, organised crime groups, hacktivists, insider threats, and opportunistic attackers.

Information Security

Each of these is named in at least one of the same controls as threat actor. The number is how many controls name both.

What the standards actually require on threat actor

Requirements naming threat actor across 6 standards, quoted from the control text.

Remove threat actor artefacts including malware, web shells, accounts, scheduled tasks, services, and persistence mechanisms across all affected systems prior to recovery.

PICERL-E-02 · Eradication: Removal of Threat Actor Artefacts

Threat actors. The Guidelines require identifying the threat actors relevant to the maritime context (e.g. opportunists, activists, criminals, state-sponsored actors and insiders).

BIMCO-2.1 · Threat actors

FIRST CSIRT Services Framework v2.1 Service Area 4 - Situational Awareness. SCOPE: maintaining + sharing operational + tactical + strategic awareness of the cyber threat landscape relevant to the constituency.

FIRST-CSIRTF-SA4-SituationalAwareness · Service Area 4 - Situational Awareness and Threat Intelligence

Vulnerability Management is a core technical control area per FSA Cybersecurity Guidelines. (1) Vulnerability Discovery: (a) Authenticated and Unauthenticated Scanning - Nessus + Qualys + Rapid7 + open source; (b) DAST Dynamic Application Security Testing;

JP-FSA-CYB-Vulnerability-Management-Patching-CVE-Risk-Based-Prioritisation-Penetration-Testing-Red-Team · Japan FSA Cybersecurity Vulnerability Management + Patching + CVE Tracking + Risk-Based Prioritisation + Penetration Testing + Red-Team + Bug Bounty + Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure + Zero-Day Response
MITRE ATT&CK1 control

Track adversary tradecraft via ATT&CK Groups (G-IDs) and Software (S-IDs). 130+ threat groups documented including APT1 (PLA Unit 61398) + APT28 Fancy Bear (Russia GRU) + APT29 Cozy Bear/Midnight Blizzard (Russia SVR) + APT38 Lazarus financial (DPRK) + APT41 W...

MITRE-ATTACK-Threat-Groups-Software-APT28-APT29-APT38-APT41-FIN7-Conti-LockBit-Lazarus-Cobalt-Strike-Mimikatz · MITRE ATT&CK Threat Groups + Software + APT28 + APT29 + APT41 + FIN7 + Conti + Lazarus + Cobalt Strike + Mimikatz

Maintains awareness of threat actors targeting the supply chain and feeds that awareness into decisions.

161R1-PM-16 · Threat Awareness Program

Questions people ask about threat actor

What is Threat Actor?
An individual or group that conducts cyber attacks or exploits vulnerabilities. Threat actors include nation-states, organised crime groups, hacktivists, insider threats, and opportunistic attackers.
Why is Threat Actor important for compliance?
Threat Actor is a key concept in Information Security. Understanding threat actor helps organizations meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, and demonstrate due diligence during audits. Our compliance platform maps 686 frameworks with 311K cross-framework control mappings.
Which compliance frameworks address Threat Actor?
Threat Actor appears in the requirement text of SANS Incident Handler's Handbook and PICERL Methodology, BIMCO Cyber Security, FIRST CSIRT Services Framework and Standards, Japan FSA Cybersecurity Guidelines for Financial Institutions, MITRE ATT&CK. Across these standards we have identified 9 controls that name it directly, each linked to the control text on the compliance platform.
Where can I learn more about Threat Actor?
Explore our compliance framework pages to see how threat actor applies across different standards and regulations. Our implementation guides provide step-by-step guidance, and the compliance platform offers AI-powered analysis of how this concept maps across 686 frameworks.

See how Threat Actor applies across compliance frameworks

Our platform maps 686 frameworks with 311K cross-framework control mappings. Explore how this concept is addressed across standards.

Written and maintained by Gerard Blokdyk, The Art of Service.