threat actor
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.32 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person or entity that conducts malicious activities against digital targets, particularly cyberattacks.
Example Sentences
- "Threat actors have repeatedly attempted to breach our systems, without success."
- "A pure threat actor is less complex in capabilities and intent than a mixed type. The most complex actor would possess “the highest and most encompassing” capabilities and intent and compromise a threat kingdom of potential strategies."
- "As noted above, multiple threat actor groups are actively working to expand and improve the DDoS attack capabilities of Mirai-variant botnets."
- "The compromised dataset appeared on a notorious hacking forum earlier this week, posted by a threat actor operating under the alias "Solonik.""
Etymology
Likely US Government jargon, derived from actor (“one that takes part in an action”). First attested in 2000.