Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset

Build a Strategic Security Programme to Counteract Threats
2. Revised Auflage 2027
ISBN: 978-1-3986-3017-8
Verlag: Kogan Page Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Strengthen your cybersecurity strategy by thinking like an attacker and anticipating threats before they strike. Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset by leading cybersecurity expert and best-selling author Sarah Armstrong-Smith is a strategic guide for leaders who need to understand the people, motives and methods behind modern cyber attacks.

This fully revised second edition helps leaders navigate a threat landscape reshaped by AI, organized crime, cyber-enabled fraud and transnational attack models. New chapters explore AI-accelerated threats, sextortion, human trafficking and the criminal ecosystems that sustain cybercrime - revealing how attackers adapt, collaborate and profit.

Drawing on real-world examples including SolarWinds, Scattered Spider, North Korean IT worker schemes and South-East Asian fraud compounds, this book connects the headlines to the human, operational and economic forces behind them. The result is a practical and strategic lens for understanding the human drivers of attacker behaviour, reducing exposure and strengthening organizational resilience.

You will learn how to: - Think like an attacker and analyse their behaviour - Recognise the warning signs of fast-moving threat models - Anticipate AI-driven attacks and evolving cybercrime tactics - Address advanced human risk at leadership level - Strengthen executive crisis readiness - Build security cultures grounded in trust, accountability and psychological safety

For CISOs, CIOs, CTOs and business leaders across cybersecurity, resilience, fraud, risk and crisis management, this book offers a clear, compelling and human-centred approach to making better security decisions, strengthening resilience and defending against increasingly sophisticated threats. Themes include: cybersecurity strategy, attacker mindset, cyber threat intelligence, AI in cybersecurity, insider threat management, cyber risk governance, social engineering, psychological and cognitive warfare.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Armstrong-Smith, Sarah

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Technische Informatik Computersicherheit
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management Risikomanagement

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Section - ONE: Understanding types of attack, how they operate and why they are successful;
• • Chapter - 01: The evolution of cybercrime in the digital age;
  • Chapter - 02: Understanding the will and motivation of attackers;
  • Chapter - 03: Types of cyber attack and why they work;
  • Chapter - 04: How AI is amplifying cyber threats;
  • Chapter - 05: Cybercrime as a service – a booming enterprise;
• Section - TWO: Incidents, lessons learnt and the rise of the insider threat;
• • Chapter - 06: Opportunities and activists – how anyone can become a cybercriminal;
  • Chapter - 07: The new groups making names for themselves;
  • Chapter - 08: Syndicates – how groups work together to build services and avoid detection;
  • Chapter - 09: Brokers – law enforcement headaches in tracking cybercrime and money laundering;
  • Chapter - 10: Influencers – how nation-state actors change social dynamics;
  • Chapter - 11: Human exploitation - trapping people in an illicit world of degradation;
  • Chapter - 12: Insiders – how attackers take advantage of internal loopholes;
• Section - THREE: Strategies to counteract the criminal mindset and build resilience;
• • Chapter - 13: Why security must lead with education;
  • Chapter - 14: Are people really the weakest link?
  • Chapter - 15: The human factor – mindset, cultural variances and what factors tip people over the edge;
  • Chapter - 16: Strategies for counteracting human adversaries;
  • Chapter - 17: The board-level response – how decisions ae made in times of crisis;
  • Chapter - 18: Final thoughts on the direction and evolution of the human adversary

Über Autor(innen)

Armstrong-Smith, Sarah
<b>Sarah Armstrong-Smith</b> has been recognized as one of the most influential leaders in cybersecurity and UK tech and has over 20 years' experience delivering and advising C-suite executives on large-scale business & ICT continuity, cybersecurity, data protection and resilience programmes. She is the Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft and works with strategic and major customers across Europe to help them enhance their security strategies and capabilities. Prior to Microsoft, she was the Group Head of Business Resilience & Crisis Management at The London Stock Exchange Group, the Head of Continuity & Resilience, Enterprise & Cyber Security at Fujitsu and also held roles at EY and AXA. She has been on the front-line of many major incidents, including IT failures, data breaches, and fraud. She is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and is based in Bath, UK.

Sarah Armstrong-Smith is one of the most influential cybersecurity leaders in the industry. With three decades of front-line experience, she is currently Executive Director of Secure Horizons. She held roles including Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft and Group Head Crisis Management at The London Stock Exchange, delivering transformative strategies to help organisations build resilience to cyber attacks and global crises. She is also a member of the UK Government Cyber Advisory Board. She is based in Bath, UK.