Threat Actor

Threat actor↗ is a general term for any individual or group responsible for carrying out, or intending to carry out, a malicious act against computer systems, networks, or data. This includes cybercriminals, nation-state hackers, hacktivists, and malicious insiders.

Security teams often categorize threat actors by motivation and sophistication, an opportunistic scammer looks very different from a well-funded state-sponsored group, since that distinction shapes what defenses and detection strategies actually make sense.