Cybersecurity focuses on protecting systems, networks, and organizations from specialized attacks and threats that are designed by cyber criminals with the intention to cause harm or damage. These cyber criminals are commonly referred to as threat actors. As time continues, more users and organizations are connecting their systems and networks to the largest network in the world, the internet, and cyber criminals are developing new strategies to steal money from potential victims.

For instance, many cyber criminals are developing more sophisticated threats, such as ransomware. Let’s use this example to underscore the importance of cybersecurity. Ransomware is a type of crypto-malware that’s designed to encrypt all data found on a victim’s system, except the host operating system. The intention is to encrypt the victim’s most valuable asset on the compromised system, the data stored on local storage media, and request a ransom payment in the form of cryptocurrencies to obtain the decryption keys to recover the data. The longer the ransomware is on a compromised system, the ransomware agent could establish a Command and Control (C2) communication channel with one or more C2 servers that are owned and managed by cyber criminals to receive updates and additional instructions. The threat actor can push updates to the ransomware agent to frequently update the cryptographic keys that are used to encrypt the victim’s data – therefore, reducing the likelihood that the victim is able to safely recover their data from the ransomware. During this time, the threat actor is also exfiltrating the data found on the victim’s system and selling it on various marketplaces on the Dark Web to the highest bidder. Cyber criminals are intelligent; they are very aware that organizations know the value of data that is stored on their computers and servers, and will do almost anything to recover their data as soon as possible.

From a cybersecurity perspective, it’s not recommended to pay the ransom as there’s no guarantee or reassurance that the threat actors will release the encrypted data or even provide the right decryption key to recover your data. It is important to note that threat actors are not only demanding ransom payment by encrypting data but also by threatening to expose organizational and customer sensitive data by releasing it or onto pastedump sites such as pastebin.com and to the media. This “doubling-down” on the pressure applied makes it difficult for victims not to cave into the ransomware gangs’ demands.

For instance, there are many organizations around the world with a reactive approach to cybersecurity, such that they will only react when their systems and network are compromised by a cyber-attack rather than implementing mitigation and countermeasures to prevent future threats. However, if an organization does not implement proper cyber defenses with an effective incident response plan, when ransomware compromises a vulnerable system within a network, it has the potential to automatically spread to other vulnerable systems within the organization to expand its foothold. Therefore, the longer it takes to contain/isolate the threat on the network, the more damage can be done.

Therefore, without cybersecurity professionals, researchers, and security solutions, many organizations and users are left unprotected from various types of threats. For instance, many banks provide an online banking system that enables their customers to perform various types of transactions such as making payments, transferring funds, and so on. Imagine if cyber criminals discovered weak security controls on a bank’s customer login portal and found a way to take advantage of the security weakness to gain unauthorized access to multiple customers’ accounts, steal their Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and transfer funds out of their accounts. Therefore, safeguarding customer data is crucial, not only to protect individuals from immediate financial loss but also to prevent their information from being used in future cyber-attacks.

In the next section, you will learn about common security-related terminology in the industry.

During your journey in the field of cybersecurity, you’ll discover the jargon and terminology that is commonly used within various research papers, articles, literature, discussions, and learning resources. As an aspiring cybersecurity professional, it’s important to be aware of and gain a solid understanding of common terminology and how it is related to ethical hacking and penetration testing.

The following are the most common terms used within the cybersecurity industry:

• Asset – Within the field of cybersecurity, we usually define an asset to be anything that has value to an organization or person. For instance, assets are systems within a network that can be interacted with and potentially expose an organization’s network infrastructure to security weaknesses that could be compromised and enable unauthorized access to a cyber criminal, while providing a way to escalate their privileges on the compromised system from standard user to administrator-/root-level privileges. However, it’s important to mention that assets are not and should not be limited to technical systems. In addition, other forms of assets include people (humans), physical security controls, and even the data that resides within the network and systems we aim to protect. Assets are commonly categorized as follows:
  • Tangible – Tangible assets are simply described as any physical object with value, such as computers, servers, networking devices (routers, switches, etc.), and security appliances (firewalls). Computers and other end devices help typical users and employees access the resources on a network and perform their daily duties within an organization. Servers are typically used to store and host applications and provide services that are needed within typical network infrastructures. Networking devices contain configurations that are used to forward network traffic between systems, and security appliances are implemented to filter unwanted traffic and prevent threats between networks and systems. If these systems and devices are compromised, cyber criminals will be able to redirect network traffic to malicious websites that are owned by malicious actors and expand their operations.
  • Intangible – Intangible assets are things without a physical form that have value, such as applications, software license keys, intellectual property, business plans and models, and data.
  • People – This type of asset is the customers and employees of an organization. Protecting customers’ data from being stolen and leaked on the Dark Web, and safeguarding employees from various types of threats are of paramount importance. It is important to identify all the assets of an organization and potential threats that can cause harm and damage to them.
• Threat – In the context of cybersecurity, a threat is anything that has the potential to cause harm or damage to a system, network, or person. Whether you’re focusing on the offensive or defensive path in cybersecurity, it’s important to identify various types of threats. Many organizations around the world encounter different types of threats each day, and cybersecurity teams work around the clock to ensure their company’s assets are safeguarded from cyber criminals.

  One of the most exciting but also overwhelming aspects of cybersecurity is industry professionals always need to stay one step ahead of threat actors to quickly find security weaknesses in systems, networks, and applications and implement countermeasures to mitigate any potential threats those assets.

• Vulnerability – A vulnerability is a security weakness or flaw that exists within a system that enables hackers to exploit it in order to gain unauthorized access or control over systems within a network. Common vulnerabilities that exist within organizations include human error (the greatest of vulnerabilities on a global scale), misconfiguration of devices, weak user credentials, poor programming practices, unpatched operating systems, outdated applications on host systems, default against configurations on systems, and so on.

  A threat actor usually looks for the lowest-hanging fruits such as the vulnerabilities that are the easiest to exploit on a targeted system. The same concept applies to penetration testing. During a security assessment, the penetration tester will use various techniques and tools to discover vulnerabilities and will attempt to exploit the easy ones before moving on to more complex security flaws on a targeted system.

• Exploit – An exploit is anything such as a tool or code that is used to take advantage of security vulnerabilities on a system. For instance, take a hammer, a piece of wood, and a nail. The vulnerability is the soft, permeable nature of the wood, the exploit is the act of hammering the nail into the piece of the wood, while the hammer is the threat. Once a security vulnerability is found on a targeted system, the threat actor or penetration tester will either acquire an exploit from various online sources or develop one on their own that has the capability of taking advantage of the security weakness.

  If you’ve acquired or developed an exploit, it’s important that you test the exploit on a system to ensure it has the capabilities to compromise the targeted system and works as expected. Sometimes, an exploit may work on one system and not on another. Hence, it’s a common practice that seasoned penetration testers will test and ensure their exploits are working as expected and graded on their rate of success for a vulnerability.

• Attack – An attack is simply a method or technique that is used by a threat actor to take advantage of (exploit) a security vulnerability (weakness) within a system. There are various types of attacks that are commonly used by cyber criminals to compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability of a targeted system. For instance, the LockBit 3.0 ransomware focuses on exploiting the security vulnerabilities that are found on internet-facing systems that do not have their language settings configured to match a specific exclusion list. The attack launches ransomware on the internet; it will automatically seek and compromise vulnerable systems.

  NOTE

  To learn more about the LockBit 3.0 ransomware, please see the official Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) advisory at https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-075a.

• Attack vector – An attack vector is simply an area or pathway through which a targeted system, network, or organization can be compromised by a threat actor.

  The following are common attack vectors:

  • Direct access – Physical access to the targeted computer or network
  • Wireless – Exploiting security vulnerabilities found within the target’s wireless network infrastructure
  • Email – Sending malicious email messages containing links to malware-infected services, fake websites, and malicious attachments
  • Supply chain – Compromising the security of a vendor or supplier to gain access to a target
  • Social media – Using deceptive messages or malicious advertising (malvertising) to trick the target into revealing sensitive information or downloading a malicious file
  • Removable media – Connecting malware-infected media to the targeted system
  • Cloud – Exploiting security vulnerabilities within cloud services and its infrastructure

  These are the infrastructures in which an attacker can deliver a malicious payload to a target.

• Risk – Risk is the potential impact that a vulnerability, threat, or attack presents to the assets of an organization and the likelihood an attack or threat has to cause harm systems. Evaluating risk helps to determine the likelihood of a specific issue causing a data breach that will cause harm to an organization’s finances, reputation, or regulatory compliance. Reducing risk is critical for many organizations. There are many certifications, regulatory standards, and frameworks that are designed to help companies understand, identify, and reduce risks.

  While it may seem like ethical hackers and penetration testers are hired to simulate real-world cyber-attacks on a target organization, the goal of such engagements is much deeper than it seems. At the end of the penetration test, the cybersecurity professional will present all the vulnerabilities and possible solutions to help the organization mitigate and reduce the risk of a potential cyber-attack while reducing the attack surface of the company.

• Attack surface – This is all the vulnerable points of entry into a system, network, or organization that can be exploited by a threat actor to gain unauthorized access and expand their foothold on the network. Ethical hackers and penetration testers focus on identifying these vulnerability points of entry to determine the attack surface of an organization and how a cyber criminal would potentially exploit those weaknesses to compromise their target.
• Zero-day – A zero-day is when a threat actor discovers a security vulnerability within a product or application and is able to exploit it before the vendor is either aware of the vulnerability or has time to develop a security patch to resolve the issue. These attacks are commonly used in nation-state attacks, Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, and large criminal organizations. The discovery of a zero-day vulnerability can be very valuable to ethical hackers and penetration testers and can earn them a bug bounty. These bounties are fees paid by vendors to security researchers who discover unknown vulnerabilities in their applications.

  There are many bug bounty programs that allow security researchers, professionals, and anyone with the right skill set to discover security vulnerabilities within an application or system owned by a vendor and report them for a reward. The person who reports the security vulnerability, usually a zero-day flaw, is often given a financial reward. However, there are threat actors who intentionally attempt to exploit the targeted system for personal gain, which is commonly referred to as the hack value of the target.

So far, you have learned about the importance and need for cybersecurity within various industries around the world. Next, let’s learn about various types of threat actors and the motives behind their cyber-attacks.