Editing Computer security (section)

=== Multi-vector, polymorphic attacks ===
Surfacing in 2017, a new class of multi-vector,<ref>{{cite web | title=Multi-Vector Attacks Demand Multi-Vector Protection | website=MSSP Alert | date=24 July 2017 | url=https://www.msspalert.com/analysis/multi-vector-attacks-demand-multi-vector-protection }}</ref> polymorphic<ref>{{cite news |first=Renee |last=Millman |title=New polymorphic malware evades three-quarters of AV scanners |work=SC Magazine UK |date=15 December 2017 |url=https://www.scmagazineuk.com/new-polymorphic-malware-evades-three-quarters-of-av-scanners/article/718757/ }}</ref> cyber threats combine several types of attacks and change form to avoid cybersecurity controls as they spread.

Multi-vector polymorphic attacks, as the name describes, are both multi-vectored and polymorphic.<ref name="Tounsi-2019">{{Citation |last=Tounsi |first=Wiem |title=What is Cyber Threat Intelligence and How is it Evolving? |date=2019-05-15 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119618393.ch1 |work=Cyber-Vigilance and Digital Trust |pages=1–49 |editor-last=Tounsi |editor-first=Wiem |access-date=2023-12-06 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781119618393.ch1 |isbn=978-1-78630-448-3|s2cid=187294508 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Firstly, they are a singular attack that involves multiple methods of attack. In this sense, they are "multi-vectored (i.e. the attack can use multiple means of propagation such as via the Web, email and applications." However,  they are also multi-staged, meaning that "they can infiltrate networks and move laterally inside the network."<ref name="Tounsi-2019" /> The attacks can be polymorphic, meaning that the cyberattacks used such as viruses, worms or trojans "constantly change ("morph") making it nearly impossible to detect them using signature-based defences."<ref name="Tounsi-2019" />