Exam objective

SY0-701 2.1: Threat Actors and Motivations

Security+ Topic

Threat Actors and Motivations for Security+

This Security+ topic covers recognition of who the likely actor is, what attributes describe that actor, and why the actor may be acting. It teaches actor type, actor position, actor resources, actor sophistication, actor capability, and motivation.

Start first lesson

3 lessons in this topic

1

Threat Actor Types

Compare common threat actor types such as nation-state, unskilled attacker, hacktivist, insider, organized crime, and shadow IT.

2

Threat Actor Attributes

Assess threat actors by internal versus external position, resources, funding, sophistication, and capability.

3

Threat Actor Motivations

Map motivations such as exfiltration, espionage, disruption, blackmail, financial gain, ideology, ethics, revenge, chaos, and war to likely actor behavior.

Common mistakes to avoid

1

Learners often treat motivation as the actor type. Financial gain is a motivation; organized crime is an actor type commonly associated with it. Espionage is a motivation; nation-state is an actor type commonly associated with it.

2

Learners often equate funding, resources, sophistication, and capability. Funding is money. Resources are everything the actor can bring to the operation. Sophistication is how advanced the methods are.

3

Learners often choose the actor type when the question asks why. Organized crime is not a motivation; financial gain, blackmail, and data exfiltration are motivations commonly associated with organized crime.