Current Threats
Threat Terminology
IAM
Insider Risk
Malware
100

This AI-powered social engineering trick may involve manipulating videos to change what someone is saying.

What are Deepfakes?

100

These pieces of evidence are used to denote a possible attack.

What are Indicators of Compromise?

100

Process of granting / denying access to systems.

What is Authorization?

100

A current or former FINRA employee or contractor who has, or had, authorized access to FINRA's assets.

What is an Insider?

100

This type of malware tricks users into thinking it is a legitimate program but actually hides malicious intent, requiring the user to install it themselves.

What is a Trojan Horse?

200

This type of phishing attack involves placing unofficial QR codes in places like parking meters, restaurant menus, emails, or as stickers on public transit.

What is Quishing?

200

Some terms used by this protocol include red, amber, green and clear to specify how information may be shared.

What is Traffic Light Protocol?

200

Process to enforce strict authN policies and controls. It runs continuous monitoring, assesses risks and enforces adaptive security controls.

What is Zero Trust?

200

Interest in or accessing matters without a need to know or unexplained change in working behavior.

What Are Signs of an Insider Risk?

200

This type of malware stays hidden inside the hardware or firmware of a computer, making it extremely difficult to detect and remove. One example is LoJax.

What is a Rootkit?

300

In late 2024, this non-profit digital library was taken offline by a massive DDoS attack following a previous breach of 31 million user records.

What is the Internet Archive?

300

The motivations of these threat actors is political in nature.

Who are Hacktivists?

300

Ensures right individuals have appropriate access on a need-to-know basis by applying policies and procedures.

What is Identity Governance?

300

A time in a staff members lifecycle that represents a significant risk for insiders taking company information.

What is Off Boarding or Termination?

300

This 2017 ransomware attack initially targeting Ukraine caused over $10 billion in damages worldwide, and affected companies like Maersk and Merck.

What is NotPetya?

400

This type of long-term social engineering attack often starts with receiving an SMS message that looks like it was meant for someone else.

What is Pig Butchering?

400

Named due to not being able to be broken down into smaller parts, these indicators include IP addresses, file hashes, and URLs.

What are Atomic Indicators?

400

Gradually accumulating access over time due to role and organizational changes.

What is Privilege Creep or excessive access.

400

This security framework, often used by organizations, that involves controlling access to information based on the principle of least privilege to mitigate insider risks.

What is Role-Based Access Control?

400

In 2023, this ransomware group exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT, allowing admin creation and authentication bypass, claiming breaches of 130+ organizations.

Who is Cl0p?

500

This state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) was discovered inside the telecom systems of Verizon and AT&T in early 2025.

What is Salt Typhoon?

500

This is a cybercrime business model that allows low skill affiliates to pay operators to launch attacks on their behalf.

What is Ransomware-as-a-service?

500

Staffs use of unmanaged applications for convenience poses security risks.

What is Shadow IT?

500

A tool to detect and monitor user behavior to identify potential insider threats, often through analysis of unusual patterns in network activity.

What is User and Entity Behavior Analytics?

500

Named after a powerful mythological entity, this UEFI malware discovered in 2022 allows attackers to persist even after an OS reinstall and was linked to state-sponsored espionage.

What is CosmicStrand?