Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset: Build a Strategic Security Programme to Counteract Threats

  • 5h 27m
  • Sarah Armstrong-Smith
  • Kogan Page
  • 2024

To counteract a cyber attacker, organizations need to learn to think like one. Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset explores the psychology of cyber warfare and how organizations can defend themselves against attacks.

This book provides a comprehensive look at the inner workings of cyber attackers in the digital age and presents a set of strategies that organizations can deploy to counteract them. With technological advancements in cybersecurity, attackers are increasingly falling back to social engineering and preying on people's vulnerabilities. This book examines different types of cyber attackers, explores their motivations, and examines the methods used. It also reviews key industry developments such as cybercrime as a service, brokers and syndicates, nation-sponsored actors, insider sabotage and the challenges faced by law enforcement in tracking and apprehending attackers.

Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset offers expert, strategic guidance on how organizations can improve their cybersecurity operations in response, including enhancing security awareness training, educating employees to identify and resist manipulation, understanding the importance of cultural variances and how board-level decision-making can directly influence attacks. Written by a renowned cybersecurity leader, the book draws on interviews with ex-criminals and top experts in the field to share rich insights and a wide range of case studies profiling notable groups, such as Anonymous, Lapsus$, FIN7, Nigeria's Yahoo Boys, Sandworm, and the Lazarus Group. The human side of cybersecurity has never been so important.

About the Author

Sarah Armstrong-Smith is recognized as one of the most influential women in cybersecurity and UK tech, with over 25 years' experience delivering and advising C-suite leaders on large-scale cybersecurity, information protection and resilience programmes. She is Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft and has previously held roles at EY, Fujitsu, AXA, and the London Stock Exchange Group. She is based in Bath, UK.

In this Book

  • Foreword
  • Preface
  • The Evolution of Cybercrime in The Digital Age
  • Understanding The Will and Motivation of Attackers
  • Types Of Cyber Attack and Why They Work
  • How Covid-19 Created an Epidemic of Cybercrime
  • Cybercrime As a Service – A Booming Enterprise
  • Opportunists And Activists – How Anyone Can Become a Cybercriminal
  • New Kids on The Block – New Groups Making Names for Themselves
  • Syndicates – How Groups Work Together to Build Services and Avoid Detection
  • Brokers – Law Enforcement Headaches in Tracking Cybercrime and Money Laundering
  • Influencers – How Nation-Sponsored Actors Change Social Dynamics
  • Insiders – How Attackers Take Advantage of Internal Loopholes
  • Why Your Security Awareness Training Sucks, And Education Is the Differentiator
  • Are People Really the Weakest Link?
  • The Human Factor – Mindset, Cultural Variances and What Factors Tip People Over the Edge
  • Strategies For Counteracting Human Adversaries
  • The Board-Level Response – How Decisions Are Made in Times of Crisis
  • Final Thoughts on The Direction and Evolution of The Human Adversary
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