# Cyber Threat Actors for the Factory of the Future
## 4 Threat Actor Landscape for the Factory of the Future (FoF)
### Threat Actors for the FoF
#### 4.2.6 Analysis of different CTAs for the FoF environment  
Cyber criminals are the most prolific threat actors in the general cyber security space. They target a wide range of industries and have a cornucopia of monetization techniques to take advantage of. FoF systems will likely be targeted by cyber criminals as long as there is a profit to be made and the stakes remain low. They are likely to adopt traditional methods in a creative way into the new environment, as they have before, and are most likely the primary source of incidents in FoF environments. This is also mirrored in the current threat reporting as seen in Table 2.  
Nation-state actors are interested in strategic data, espionage, and economic espionage, capability to control critical infrastructures and disrupt critical production chains. They are also interested in the capability to disrupt decision making and to interfere in competing state leadership selection. Many of these aims may be achieved by targeting FoF environments. Nation-state actors have the high skills required for breaching FoF environments. As the nation-state actors have no need to make a profit, they are most likely to use third parties as a threat vector for offensive cyber operations. Nation-state actors are a likely CTA for FoF operator as seen in Table 2 and are likely to stay that way in the future. Competitors are typically those with the most to gain from offensive cyber operations. They are typically thought to be held back by ethics or fear of reputational damage, but data on the real usage of cyber operations against competitors is lacking. They are a CTA that is likely to be underestimated by authorities. Competitors are likely to have deep specialist knowledge of operating similar specialist systems required for delicate manipulation of industrial systems. They are likely the source of the more intelligent threats targeting FoF environments, as they have industry knowhow, contacts and understanding. This is especially true in business areas where there is lack of competition or with state controlled/backed businesses that work in areas of military or intelligence importance (e.g., aerospace, communications). A state-backed competitor may also lack any real choice in initiating offensive cyber operations and can have immunity to any real consequences even when getting caught. Current threat \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Top Threats 2018** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Cyber** \\ **Criminals** \\ \end{tabular} & **Nation-States** & **Competitors** & **Ideologues** & **Insiders** & **Affected FoF Aspect** \\ \hline Malware & 1 & 1 & 1 & 0.5 & - & Network Connectivity \\ Web Based & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & - & Network Connectivity \\ Attacks & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & - & Network Connectivity \\ Web Application & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & - & Network Connectivity \\ attacks & 1 & 0.5 & 0.5 & 1 & - & Network Connectivity \\ Denial of Service & 1 & 0.5 & 0.5 & 1 & - & Network Connectivity \\ Attacks & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & - & Network Connectivity \\ Bontests & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & Connectivity Collaboration \\ Phishing & 1 & 1 & 1 & - & 0.5 & All \\ Spam & 0.5 & 0.5 & 1 & 0.5 & - & All \\ Ransomware & 1 & 1 & 1 & - & 0.5 & All \\ Insider Threat & 1 & 0.5 & 1 & 0.5 & - & All \\ Physical & & & & & & \\ Manipulation/ & 1 & 1 & 1 & 0.5 & 1 & Flexible automation \\ Damage/Theft/Loss & & & & & & & CollaborationNetwork \\ Exploit Kits & 1 & 1 & 1 & - & - & Connectivity \\ Data Breach & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & Network Connectivity \\ Identity theft & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & Collaboration \\ Information & & 1 & 1 & 0.5 & 0.5 & All \\ leakage & & & & & & & CollaborationNetwork \\ Cyber espionage & - & 0.5 & 0.5 & - & 0.5 & Connectivity/Hexible automation \\ Total & 13.5 & 13 & 13.5 & 9 & 6.5 & - \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Mapping 2018 observed threats [5] to CTAs. tends (Table 2) indicate that competitors are an important CTA for FoF environments and will remain so in the future.