Incident

1 min read Updated Fri Apr 24 2026 07:36:29 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Any event that violates or threatens to violate a system’s security policies.

Examples:

  • unauthorized access attempt
  • accidental data leakage
  • system misconfiguration causing exposure
  • power failure affecting availability

Attack

An incident with malicious intent. Intentional and malicious.

Examples:

  • hacking into a system
  • injecting malicious code
  • denial-of-service (DoS) attacks

Attacker

The human exploiting the vulnerability.

  • Criminal-for-hire
    Hired hackers.
  • Organized crime members
    Professional groups.
  • Individual hackers
    Solo attackers.
  • Terrorists
    Ideologically driven attackers.

MOM

To carry out an attack, a malicious attacker must have:

  • Method
    Skills and tools for the attack.
  • Opportunity
    Access and time to execute the attack.
  • Motive
    Reason to perform the attack.