The following post summarizes those groups or individuals that are considered to be key sources of cyber threats to national information systems and cyber infrastructures.
Terrorists
Terrorists seek to destroy, incapacitate, or exploit critical infrastructures to threaten national security, cause mass casualties, weaken the U.S. economy, and damage public morale and confidence. However, traditional terrorist adversaries of the United States are less developed in their computer network capabilities than other adversaries. Terrorists likely pose a limited cyber threat. The Central Intelligence Agency believes terrorists will stay focused on traditional attack methods, but it anticipates growing cyber threats as a more technically competent generation enters the ranks.
Disgruntled insiders
The disgruntled insider, working from within an organization, is a principal source of computer crimes. Insiders may not need a great deal of knowledge about computer intrusions because their knowledge of a victim system often allows them to gain unrestricted access to cause damage to the system or to steal system data. The insider threat also includes contractor personnel.
Hacktivism
Hacktivism refers to politically motivated attacks on publicly accessible Web pages or email servers. These groups and individuals overload e-mail servers and hack into Web sites to send a political message.
Hackers
Hackers sometimes crack into networks for the thrill of the challenge or for bragging rights in the hacker community. While remote cracking once required a fair amount of skill or computer knowledge, hackers can now download attack scripts and protocols from the Internet and launch them against victim sites. Thus, attack tools have become more sophisticated and easier to use.
Criminal groups
There is an increased use of cyber intrusions by criminal groups that attack systems for monetary gain.
Foreign nations
Foreign intelligence services use cyber tools as part of their information gathering and espionage activities. According to the Director of National Intelligence, a growing array of state and nonstate adversaries are increasingly targeting—for exploitation and potentially disruption or destruction - information infrastructure, including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and
controllers in critical industries.
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