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APT

An advanced persistent threat refers to a structured and sustained intrusion by skilled adversaries who pursue long term objectives.

What is an APT?How it typically works?Common techniques & variantsImpactFurther reading

What is an APT?

An APT is an operation conducted by an organized actor that invests resources to maintain stealthy and persistent access to targeted networks. These actors may be nation actor groups, criminal organizations with strategic goals, or contractors acting on behalf of states. APT campaigns often combine zero day exploits, supply chain intrusions, custom malware, careful reconnaissance, and long term persistence to extract intelligence, intellectual property, or to position for future disruptive activities. Notable APT groups are commonly tracked by numbers and labels in threat intelligence reports and are linked to high profile espionage and supply chain incidents.

How it typically works?

  1. Targeting and reconnaissance: actors research target organizations to identify key people, systems and supply relationships.
  2. Initial compromise: entry via phishing, zero day exploit, or supply chain attack.
  3. Establish persistence: deploy backdoors and maintain multiple access mechanisms.
  4. Privilege escalation and lateral movement: move through the network to reach crown jewel assets.
  5. Data exfiltration and objectives: systematically extract intelligence or position for future actions while avoiding detection.

Common techniques & variants

  • Spear phishing and targeted social engineering: highly tailored lures to gain initial access.
  • Supply chain compromise: infiltrate vendors or software build systems to reach many victims through trusted updates.
  • Custom malware families: bespoke toolsets built to evade common defenses.
  • Long term stealth and data staging: exfiltrate data in small chunks and blend with normal operations.
  • Use of zero day exploits: leverage unknown vulnerabilities to bypass defenses.

Impact

APTs present strategic level risk to organizations and states because they prioritize long term objectives over quick gains. The impact can include intellectual property theft, compromised critical infrastructure, and long lasting espionage. For SecOps teams APT detection and response require long term telemetry retention, deep network visibility, and close collaboration with intelligence sources. Building resilient systems and practicing incident response tabletop exercises significantly improves readiness against these sophisticated threats.

Further reading

  • MITRE ATT&CK: APT tradecraft and technique mapping. Read more
  • FireEye Mandiant: APT case studies and reports. Read more
  • CISA: guidance on nation actor threats and high risk vulnerabilities. Read more
  • CrowdStrike: APT reports and analysis. Read more

Related topics

Zero Day ExploitsLateral MovementPersistence