Threat Actor#

Tip

This entity is analogous to these STIX objects:

You can also use the Intrusion Set and Identity entities to represent malicious actors.

A threat actor is an adversary who is motivated to damage an individual, a group, an entity or an organization. Threat actors can be individuals, groups, or organizations; they can be nation-sponsored or nation-state actors; they can be external to the targeted victims, or they can be insider threats. The motivation that drives them ranges from economic, political, ideological, to revenge and bragging. The benefits they gain from attacking a targeted victim vary from financial, to reputation damage, to intellectual property theft, and so on.

You can associate threat actors to TTPs and campaigns to understand how they plan and organize their attacks to the targeted victims. Indicators can help you track them, and relate them to observables and sightings. For example, an email address, an IP address, or a domain name associated with a real person’s identity.

Create a threat actor by selecting:

  • In the side navigation bar + Create > Threat actor.

Or:

Then, Configure this entity.

Configure#

The following sections the fields and options available.

Note

Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*).

General#

Field

EIQ JSON field

Description

Name*

data.title

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export Compatible with STIX 1.2 export

Descriptive title for this entity. See Titles and aliases.

Analysis

data.description

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export Compatible with STIX 1.2 export

Free text description of entity.

Types*

data.types[]

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export Compatible with STIX 1.2 export

One or more threat actor types. Select a predefined type, or add a custom type by typing in the field and pressing ENTER. See Threat actor types

Aliases

data.aliases[]

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export

One or more known names to identify this threat actor by.

When this entity is published, also creates one name observable for each alias here.

Intended effects

data.intended_effects

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export Compatible with STIX 1.2 export

See Intended effects. For STIX 2.1, maps to goals property of Threat Actor SDO.

Confidence*

data.confidence

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export Compatible with STIX 1.2 export

See Confidence scale: High Medium low.

Observables#

You can create one or more new observables and link it to the currently open entity by selecting + Observable under the Observables section.

Note

If an observable you create here matches an observable rule with an ignore action, it does not appear when the you publish the entity.

In the Add observable view that appears, fill out these fields:

Field

EIQ JSON field

Description

Type*

extracts[].kind

See Observable types

Link name*

See Observable link types

See Observable link types

Values(s)*

extracts[].value

Enter one or more values. One observable is created per value.

Values must be comma-separated, or newline-separated, but not both.

Maliciousness*

See Observable maliciousness

See Observable maliciousness

Characteristics#

Characteristics are properties on an entity that provide context for the intelligence indicated by this object.

The following are characteristics available for threat actors:

Field

EIQ JSON field

Description

Motivations

data.motivations[]

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export Compatible with STIX 1.2 export

Based on STIX 2.1 §10.2 Attack Motivation Vocabulary. If entity is imported from an earlier version of EclecticIQ Intelligence Center, can contain values from MotivationVocab-1.1

Personal motivations

data.personal_motivations[]

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export

Based on STIX 2.1 §10.2 Attack Motivation Vocabulary.

Sophistication

data.sophistication

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export Compatible with STIX 1.2 export

Based on STIX 2.1 §10.25 Threat Actor Sophistication Vocabulary. If this entity is imported from an earlier version of EclecticIQ Intelligence Center, can contain values from ThreatActorSophisticationVocab-1.0.

Resource level

data.resource_level

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export

Based on STIX 2.1 §10.3 Attack Resource Level Vocabulary.

Planning and operational support

data.planning_and_operational_support[]

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export Compatible with STIX 1.2 export

Based on PlanningAndOperationalSupportVocab-1.0.1.

Roles

data.roles[]

Compatible with STIX 2.1 export

Based on STIX 2.1 §10.24 Threat Actor Role Vocabulary.

Relationships#

Add relationships to this entity by selecting + Add relationship.

See Relationships.

Meta#

The Meta section contains configuration options that allow you to attach descriptive data to the entity.

Field

EIQ JSON field

Description

Estimated threat start time

meta.estimated_threat_start_time

Estimated start of threat. See Time values.

Estimated threat end time

meta.estimated_threat_end_time

Estimated end of threat. See Time values.

Estimated observed time

meta.estimated_observed_time

Estimated time threat was observed. See Time values.

Half-life

meta.half_life

See Half-life.

Select one of these options:

  • Use default value: When selected, half-life for this entity is set to 720 days.

  • Override value: Set a custom value for half-life, in number of days.

Tags

meta.tags[] and meta.taxonomy_paths[]

See tags and taxonomies.

Source*

sources[]

Select one source.

Source reliability

meta.source_reliability

See source reliability.

Options:

  • Inherit from source: This entity inherits source reliability from Source.

  • Custom override: Set a source reliability value for just this entity.

Information source#

Field

EIQ JSON field

Description

Description

data.information_source.description

Description of information source.

Identity

data.information_source.identity

Name of this information source

Roles

data.information_source.roles[]

One or more information source roles. Possible values:

  • Initial Author

  • Content Enhancer/Refiner

  • Aggregator

  • Transformer/Translator

References

data.information_source.references[]

One or more URLs.

Data marking#

Descriptive metadata for entity.

Field

EIQ JSON field

Description

TLP

meta.tlp_color

Set a TLP color for this entity.

Terms of use

data.handling[].marking_structures[]

Free text field allowing you to attach terms of use to an entity. Analogous to TermsOfUseMarkingStructureType.

Simple

data.handling[].marking_structures[]

Free text field for attaching any text to an entity. Analogous to SimpleMarkingStructureType.

Workflow#

Use options here to apply workflow options to this entity.

Field

Description

Add to dataset

Select this option to add this entity to one or more datasets on Publish.

Manually enrich

Run one or more enrichers on this entity on Publish.

Save and publish#

Tip

For more information, see Draft and published entities.

Select Publish to create this entity, and make it available under + Create > Production > Published.

For more publishing options, select More Drop-down menu arrow and then one of these options:

  • Publish and new: Publish this entity, and start creating a new entity.

  • Publish and duplicate: Publish this entity, and start creating a new entity using all the values set for this entity.

Select Save draft to save this entity as a draft, and make it available under + Create > Production > Drafts. You must publish an entity to use it elsewhere on EclecticIQ Intelligence Center.

For more options while saving as a draft, select More Drop-down menu arrow and then one of these options:

  • Publish and new: Save this entity as a draft, and start creating a new entity.

  • Publish and duplicate: Save this entity as a draft, and start creating a new entity using all the values set for this draft entity.

Appendix#

Threat actor types#

Characterizes this threat actor.

The threat actor entity allows you to set a type by:

When this entity is exported to STIX 1.2 or STIX 2.1 formats, the entity’s type values are mapped to the corresponding Threat Actor object’s type field:

Identity property#

The identity property is no longer part of the Threat Actor entity. Use the Identity entity instead.