Thales and Verint have announced the release of The Cyberthreat Handbook, a report designed to provide insights into the most significant groups of global cyber-attackers through detailed rating cards.

The two companies combined to carry out a year-long investigation into the current cyber-threat landscape, observing attack techniques, targeted sectors and attack motives.

The research details the activities of approximately 60 major groups of cyber-attackers throughout the world, discovering that almost half of the groups analyzed were state-sponsored, often aiming to steal sensitive data from targets of geopolitical interest.

Just over a quarter were named as ideologically-motivated hacktivists, followed by financially-driven cyber-criminals (20%) and cyber-terrorists (5%).

The Cyberthreat Handbook warned that all the world’s major economic, political and military powers are priority targets of cyber-attackers, and that the sectors most targeted are States and their defense capabilities, followed by the financial sector, energy and transportation.

It was also noted that a growing number of groups of attackers are now focusing on vulnerabilities in the supply chain, and in particular on smaller partners, suppliers and service providers that are used as Trojans to access major targets.

Marc Darmon, executive vice-president, secure communications and information systems, Thales, said: “The Thales and Verint teams are immensely proud to release this report today as part of its technology and domain expertise cooperation. Unique in its breadth and depth, it is the culmination of many months of research, investigation and painstaking analysis and correlation of relevant data. As cyber-threats proliferate and evolve, cybersecurity clearly has a major role to play, particularly for critical infrastructure providers.”

Elad Sharon, president, Verint Cyber Intelligence Solutions, added: “This report generates unique insights and knowledge to cyber and security experts to mitigate and foresee cyber-attacks.”