CYBERSECURITY STRATEGY BELGIUM 2.0 – 2021-2025 and confidentiality of the information we digitally capture, analyze and exchange. The digitalization of things or goods (Internet of Things) implies that they are ‘hackable’. This has a direct impact on the overall security of every citizen, but it also means that these things or goods may contain digital traces that could be of interest in crime investigations. The main objective of criminal actors, both individual actors and those involved in organized crime, is usually to generate money and profit, for example through phishing, data theft or ransomware. In some cases, they may additionally have destructive purposes in mind, for example data sabotage or cyberattacks. Cybercriminals specialize in specific services, which they then offer on the Dark Web for a fee. This allows a criminal to subscribe to, for example, an Exploit Kit, which allows them to use the latest digital intrusion techniques without any technical knowledge. Cybercriminals offer their services to anyone willing to pay for them. Therefore, in addition to cyberterrorism, criminal organizations (or individuals) seeking to cause material and/or physical harm should be factored in as a potential threat actor at the national level. Indeed, the potential impact of cyberattacks on critical infrastructures can be such that the stability of state institutions is jeopardized. 2.1.2 Foreign military and intelligence services Nations and states possess a great deal of knowledge and physical weapons, as well as an offensive cyber arsenal. There is always a chance that they may wish to use these for purposes other than protecting their own citizens. Military and intelligence services can deploy their knowledge and weapons to inflict economic damage on other states, to create political instability in other states, and/or to weaken other states’ defences. Foreign military and intelligence services are not only conducting more cyberattacks in order to gain a competitive advantage in terms of intelligence, but increasingly, advanced techniques are being used to disrupt the operations of organizations — and indirectly so the countries in which they are based — for example by exposing confidential information. The capabilities of various national military and intelligence agencies are becoming more sophisticated. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to detect such cyberattacks and to take preventative action to defend against them. Consequently, the actual activity of these threat actors is much more frequent than statistics indicate. 15