Adaptive Network Adversaries in a Restructured Federal Landscape by Lucie Cardiet

This document outlines how state-sponsored APTs targeting U.S. federal agencies are leveraging stealthy techniques—such as living off the land, zero-day exploits, fileless malware, and lateral movement—while internal workforce and organizational constraints increase risk exposure. It argues that traditional defenses are insufficient and advocates for AI-driven Network Detection and Response (NDR) to provide behavior-based visibility, reduce alert noise, and accelerate response across data center, cloud, remote, and IoT/OT environments, positioning the Vectra AI Platform as a force multiplier for resource-constrained security teams.