A targeted attack (Targeted Attack) is an operation in which a target is thoroughly studied in order to identify weaknesses, circumvent protective systems and processes to do potential harm to an organization.
The following belong to this category of attacks: exfiltration of data (data leak), encryption of files for ransom (ransomware), establishment of a persistent channel for espionage or interception of company financial/operational information (APT), and image damage (web defacement, confidential info publications, private personnel).

The simulation consists of the following steps:

• Active and passive sensing and information gathering
• identification and analysis of weaknesses, exploitation of vulnerabilities to compromise the integrity of the infrastructure and gain access to the network, through the use of a variety of techniques: spear-phishing with malicious URLs or attachments, valid credentials obtained in the previous phase, exploiting vulnerabilities of exposed services and applications.
• Escalation within the network to obtain the highest possible privileges or an agreed-upon goal
• Lateral movement to compromise other assets or accounts of other users