# What is Cyber Espionage?

> Cyber espionage is covert, unauthorized access to digital systems or communications to obtain sensitive information for strategic, political, military, technological, or commercial intelligence advantage.

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## Content

It describes an objective and collection activity, not a single malware family or proof of state sponsorship. Campaigns often prioritize secrecy and durable access because discovery can end their intelligence value.

Operators may use phishing, stolen credentials, software vulnerabilities, trusted relationships, or supply-chain access to reach email, cloud services, research, designs, negotiations, or government information. The same intrusion can also prepare later disruption, theft, or influence, so defenders should investigate observed access and intent without assuming that collection is the only objective.

### Key points

- **Priority assets:** Identify information whose loss would affect national interests, negotiations, safety, research, intellectual property, market position, or future operations, and map the identities and systems that can reach it.
- **Detection and scoping:** Correlate identity, endpoint, network, cloud, data-access, and exfiltration evidence over time; low-volume collection may be more relevant than noisy malware alerts.
- **Risk reduction:** Apply least privilege, strong authentication, segmentation, secure administration, supplier controls, protected logging, data governance, and practiced response around the most consequential information paths.
- **Important limitation:** Techniques associated with espionage are also used for crime and system administration. Similar tools, infrastructure, or targets do not by themselves establish motive, sponsor, direction, or attribution.

### Related terms

[Advanced persistent threat (APT)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/advanced-persistent-threat/>) · [Cyber threat intelligence (CTI)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cyber-threat-intelligence/>) · [Data exfiltration](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/data-exfiltration/>) · [Phishing](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/phishing/>) · [Cyberwarfare](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cyberwarfare/>)

### Sources

[ENISA Threat Landscape 2020: Cyber Espionage](https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/enisa-threat-landscape-2020-cyber-espionage) · [Canadian Centre for Cyber Security: National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025–2026](https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/national-cyber-threat-assessment-2025-2026)

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