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The basicsChapter 2

Who attacks, and why?

Cybercriminals, access brokers, hacktivists, states, insiders and opportunists: who the attackers are, what they want and how to protect yourself.

Nestor
Presented byNestor
10 min readUpdated on 2 October 2026

What you will learn

  • Recognise the six main families of attackers and what drives them
  • Understand the ransomware economy: operators, affiliates, access brokers and infostealers
  • Tell the noise of hacktivists apart from the stealth of state-backed attackers
  • Gauge the weight of insiders and opportunistic attacks
  • Match your first defences to the most likely attacker profile

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Chapter 1 is free to read. Chapters 2 to 21, like the Junior, Senior and Expert levels of the Cyber Quiz, are free too: all you need is a free KrakenShield account with a confirmed email address.

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