Easy Pickings or Chosen Target?

About this interactive

What you are doing: deciding whether an attacker is after any easy victim or one chosen target. The lesson's apple tree: most attackers reach for the low-hanging fruit, whatever is easy to grab, and skip the apple at the top that takes time and risk. They cast a wide net, try the same easy trick on many victims, and move on when one is protected. That is why a company wants enough security not to be the easy one. But a government, a financial institution or anyone with a big payoff can become a very specific target. That attacker picks one victim, researches it, and keeps coming when the first try fails, so it takes much more security to hold off. How to use it: ask whether the attacker cares who the victim is. Many victims and one easy trick is opportunistic. One victim and extra effort is targeted. A wrong answer resets your streak and shows the right bin; land five in a row to finish.

What you'll learn

Tell an opportunistic attacker, who looks for low-hanging fruit and moves on when a target is hard, from one who has chosen a specific target and will spend extra time and effort to reach it
Explain why enough security to stop being low-hanging fruit turns away an opportunistic attacker but not a targeted one

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+

2.1 Compare and contrast common threat actors and motivations.

2.2 Explain common threat vectors and attack surfaces.

Key terms

Low-Hanging Fruit: A term describing easily exploitable targets or vulnerabilities that opportunistic attackers will pursue before attempting more difficult ones.
High-Value Target: An asset identified during post-enumeration as offering the greatest strategic return based on data sensitivity, business criticality, or ease of exploitation.
Attack Surface: The total set of points in a system where an unauthorized user can attempt to enter or extract data.
Threat Actor: An individual or group responsible for a security incident or attack.

Topics

Low Hanging Fruit High Value Target Attack Surface Interactive Streak Sort

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