Press Release

ENISA Threat Landscape 2016 report: cyber-threats becoming top priority

ENISA’s Threat Landscape 2016 (ETL 2016) released today is the fifth consecutive yearly report summarizing the top cyber threats encountered in 2016.

Published on February 08, 2017

This year is characterised by numerous serious cyber-incidents which have dominated the news. Main objectives of malicious activities detected was monetization and political impact.

ETL 2016 is streamlined towards the top cyber-threats, providing information on threat agents and attack vectors including all the remarkable developments, trends and issues. Moreover, it reports about threat agents their motivations, and how their practices, tools and techniques have advanced. Though the defenders have made significant progress in disrupting cyber-threats and in the attribution of incidents, adversaries continue to advance their tactics and techniques.

The emerging challenges originating from cyber-threats and the assessed trends are presented in this report. ENISA’s work in the area of threat analysis also includes:

Threat assessments for two emerging technology areas i) hardware, and ii) ad-hoc and sensor networking for Mobile to Mobile communications (M2M), and
An update on the cyber-threat taxonomy

Prof. Udo Helmbrecht, Executive Director of ENISA, commented on the project: “As we speak, the cyber-threat landscape is receiving significant high-level attention: it is on the agenda of politicians in the biggest industrial countries. This is a direct consequence of ‘cyber’ becoming mainstream, in affecting people’s opinions and influencing the political environment of modern societies. Besides this, a lot of developments have taken place regarding the tools and tactics used by adversaries, making 2016 another striking sample of the dynamics of cyber-space. ETL 2016 reflects these developments, while providing strategic information about the cyber-threats and their technical evolution during 2016.”

The ETL report and related material can be found under the following links: