I recently wrote four blogs about Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). In my first blog, I discussed the APT concept – stealthy threat actors who gain unauthorized access to a computer network and remain undetected for an extended period. In the second blog, I wrote about the first steps used in the kill chain process and further discussed the final steps in the third blog. In my final blog, I covered how to detect an APT in your network.

Advanced Persistent Threat groups are very well funded and usually hosted by nation states or criminal syndicates. They are advanced with very high degrees of skill sets and tools. APTs will work for months and even years to achieve their nefarious goals. Stealth and patience are the goals of advanced persistent threats.

Defending your enterprise network from APT groups is much like a never-ending chess match between you and a very patient yet villainous opponent. APTs will use well-planned kill-chain and attack decision trees to compromise a potential target. Infiltration, reconnaissance, command & control (C2), exhilaration, execution, and exploitation are all techniques that APTs will use during this chess match.

German chess champion, Emanuel Lasker, once said, “When you see a good move, look for a better one.” The good news is that resources such as the MITRE ATT&CK framework are available to you help you mount a strong defense strategy for your enterprise network.

To conclude our blog series and to fully illustrate Advanced Persistent Threats, we’ve created an infographic that visualizes the constant battle with APTs.

You can grab the full PDF version of this infographic via the link below. So, please take a moment to download the PDF, print it out in full color, and display it in your office. And don’t forget to share it with all your techno colleagues over a friendly game of chess.

Download the full PDF version of the Infographic now!