Certified: The CISM Prepcast

Welcome to The Bare Metal Cyber CISM Prepcast. This series helps you prepare for the exam with focused explanations and practical context.
Understanding the current cyber threat landscape is essential for any security leader aiming to manage risk effectively. Without insight into who is targeting your organization, how they operate, and what tools they use, security strategies remain reactive and incomplete. Threat awareness forms the foundation for informed risk assessments and helps ensure that the right controls are in place. It allows organizations to prioritize efforts based on relevance and urgency. By connecting emerging threats to internal vulnerabilities, security leaders can better communicate exposure to executives and boards.
Being aware of the threat landscape also supports strategic alignment of budget and resources. Knowing what kinds of attacks are increasing, and which industries are being targeted, helps guide security investment. Scenario planning and readiness testing are both strengthened by real-world threat knowledge. By simulating credible attacks, organizations can prepare more effectively and close gaps in detection and response. Ultimately, threat landscape understanding helps transform security from a defensive function into a proactive, intelligence-driven capability.
The threat landscape includes many different types of threat actors, each with unique motives and capabilities. Nation-state actors are among the most sophisticated. Their goals often include espionage, disruption of critical infrastructure, or advancing national political interests. These groups tend to use stealthy, well-resourced campaigns that target government systems, supply chains, and sensitive intellectual property.
Cybercriminals operate primarily for financial gain. They use tools like ransomware, data theft, and fraud to profit from system compromise. These actors are often responsible for high-volume attacks targeting a wide range of organizations. Hacktivists pursue ideological goals. They may deface websites, leak data, or disrupt services to draw attention to social or political causes. Insider threats, on the other hand, involve harm from within the organization. This can be either intentional, such as data theft by a disgruntled employee, or accidental, such as a careless user clicking on a phishing link.
Competitors and third parties also represent threat categories. Competitors may attempt to gain advantage through unethical or borderline legal behavior, including supply chain infiltration. Third-party risks stem from the vendors, partners, or contractors your organization relies on. These actors may not be malicious, but they can introduce risk when their own security postures are weak or incompatible.
To defend effectively, organizations must understand how threats are delivered. Common threat vectors include phishing and social engineering, which exploit human behavior to gain access. These tactics often rely on impersonation, urgency, or fear to trick users into clicking links or giving up credentials. Malware and ransomware are also prevalent. They can be delivered through email, websites, or infected USB devices. Once installed, they may encrypt data, exfiltrate information, or destroy systems.
Another major threat vector involves unpatched vulnerabilities. Attackers regularly scan the internet for outdated software, misconfigured systems, or known flaws that have not been corrected. Misconfigurations—especially in cloud environments—are another growing concern. These errors in setup can expose critical systems to the internet or bypass internal controls. Credential compromise is another high-impact vector. Attackers may use brute force, credential reuse, or stolen authentication data to gain unauthorized access. Once inside, they can move laterally, escalate privileges, and exfiltrate data.
Several trends are reshaping the threat landscape and increasing complexity. Attackers now use automation, bots, and artificial intelligence to scale attacks rapidly and adapt to defenses. Living Off the Land techniques—using legitimate administrative tools to conduct attacks—allow adversaries to blend in with normal activity and avoid detection. Supply chain compromise is increasing, with attackers targeting software vendors, IT providers, and other partners to gain indirect access to targets.
Remote work infrastructure and cloud services have also become high-value targets. Attackers exploit insecure VPNs, remote desktops, and misconfigured cloud assets. Persistent threats that evolve slowly—sometimes called low-and-slow intrusions—are also more common. These allow attackers to remain hidden, collect data, and expand control without triggering alarms. The combination of stealth, automation, and third-party targeting makes today’s threat landscape especially dynamic and dangerous.
To make sense of this complexity, organizations rely on threat intelligence. Threat intelligence adds context to raw data and helps identify which risks are most relevant. It includes indicators of compromise—such as malicious IP addresses, file hashes, and domain names—as well as attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures, or TTPs. TTPs describe how attackers operate and help teams understand intent and capability.
Strategic intelligence supports long-term planning by showing how threat trends relate to business risk. Tactical intelligence supports real-time decisions, such as identifying a malware variant or detecting unusual user behavior. Intelligence must be validated and correlated with internal data to be useful. Otherwise, it creates noise rather than insight. Threat intelligence must be tailored to the organization’s context—what assets it holds, what industry it’s in, and what operations it supports.
Another useful framework for understanding attacks is the Cyber Kill Chain. This model describes the staged progression of a typical cyberattack. The stages include reconnaissance, weaponization, delivery, exploitation, installation, command and control, and actions on objectives. Each phase represents a specific set of attacker activities. Reconnaissance involves collecting information about the target. Weaponization refers to preparing malware or tools. Delivery is the method of transmission—often email or web-based. Exploitation triggers the payload, while installation establishes persistence. Command and control allows communication with the attacker. Finally, actions on objectives represent the attack's goal, such as data theft or disruption.
Understanding the Kill Chain helps identify gaps in defense. For example, strong phishing detection may stop delivery, but poor monitoring could allow exploitation to succeed. By mapping controls and monitoring to each phase, organizations can identify weaknesses and improve coverage. It also improves incident response planning, allowing teams to match procedures to specific stages of the attack lifecycle. This structured approach enhances detection, containment, and recovery.
Threats vary by industry. Financial services are frequent targets due to their access to money and sensitive data. Attacks in this sector often involve credential theft, fraud, or business email compromise. Healthcare organizations face threats to data integrity, patient safety, and operational availability. Ransomware targeting hospitals can cause life-threatening disruptions. Manufacturing is increasingly targeted due to the rise of operational technology and connected equipment. These attacks often aim to disrupt production or demand ransom.
Government agencies are targets for geopolitical reasons. Threat actors may seek espionage, sabotage, or disruption of critical infrastructure. Each industry faces unique threat actors, motivations, and techniques. Understanding these variations helps organizations apply the right defenses and prioritize appropriately. One-size-fits-all security does not work. Industry-specific intelligence and sector-focused controls are required for effective protection.
Monitoring the threat landscape is an ongoing responsibility. Organizations use threat intelligence feeds, commercial services, and open-source platforms to stay informed. Participation in information sharing communities—such as Information Sharing and Analysis Centers, or ISACs—adds peer insights and contextual relevance. Continuous vulnerability scanning helps identify weaknesses before they are exploited. Dark web monitoring reveals stolen credentials, breached data, and adversary discussions that might involve your organization.
Regular analysis of threat reports and adversary models helps teams understand who is likely to attack and how. This information should be integrated into the organization’s security information and event management systems, also known as SIEMs, and other risk tools. Threat data becomes truly useful when it is connected to internal logs, user behavior, and asset visibility. Integration allows real-time detection, contextual alerts, and automated response.
Threats do not stand still, and neither should your security posture. Organizations must periodically reassess risk in light of changing threats. Policies and controls should be updated when new tactics, techniques, or vulnerabilities are discovered. Awareness training must also evolve. Simulated phishing campaigns, for example, should reflect current attack methods and terminology. Incident response plans must be reviewed and tested to ensure they remain effective against emerging threats.
Resource planning must align with prioritized threats. If supply chain attacks are increasing, then third-party risk assessments and contract language must improve. If credential compromise is a dominant vector, then identity management, multi-factor authentication, and user behavior analytics must be strengthened. Readiness is not about guessing the next attack—it’s about building agility and confidence in your ability to respond to whatever happens.
Strategic use of threat knowledge adds value across the organization. It helps frame risk at the executive level, connecting technical vulnerabilities to business consequences. Leaders can better understand potential financial and operational impact, and how proposed investments address these risks. Threat data can justify simulation exercises, red team engagements, or penetration testing. These activities uncover weaknesses before adversaries do and validate detection and response capabilities.
Security roadmaps also benefit. Anticipated threats help define what projects to fund, what controls to enhance, and what skills to develop. The ability to anticipate, plan for, and adapt to evolving threats enhances organizational resilience. It strengthens trust with partners and customers, supports compliance, and improves overall performance. Security is not just about stopping attacks—it’s about managing risk in a world of constant change.
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