Episode 43: Threat Actor Categories and Profiles
Understanding the adversary is the first step to anticipating their next move. In this episode, we profile the major categories of threat actors you need to know for the CySA+ exam: advanced persistent threats (APTs), hacktivists, organized crime groups, nation-state actors, insider threats, and even low-skill opportunists known as “script kiddies.” You’ll hear how motivations, tactics, and resource levels differ across actor types—and why attribution can influence response.
We also examine how threat actors operate across the cyber kill chain, from reconnaissance to exfiltration, and how security analysts categorize and respond to threats based on known attacker behaviors. This episode lays the psychological and operational groundwork for future topics on threat intelligence, frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, and effective risk-based defense strategies. Brought to you by BareMetalCyber.com
