APT attacks ∙∙
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. – 1 Peter 5:8
2 Corinthians 11:2-4
2 For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. . .
3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.
4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.
In early November 2020, pharmaceutical partners Pfizer and BioNTech announced the development of a 90% effective COVID-19 vaccine. This achievement was hailed as a significant modern scientific breakthrough. Unfortunately, just a week later, Microsoft reported detecting cyber-attacks by three state-sponsored hacking groups, Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), targeting at least seven prominent companies involved in COVID-19 vaccine research and treatments (ZDNet).
What is an APT?
Cyber APTs are a recent threat that endangers individuals, companies, and state and federal computer systems.
An Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) is a sophisticated, covert cyberattack that infiltrates computer networks. Unlike a single attack or battle, it is more of an extensive campaign in which an intruder or team establishes a prolonged, unauthorized presence on a network to extract highly sensitive data (imperva.com).
These attacks carefully select and research their targets, focusing on large enterprises or governmental networks. The consequences of such intrusions are far-reaching and include the following:
- Theft of intellectual property (e.g., trade secrets or patents)
- Compromise of sensitive information (e.g., employee and user private data)
- Sabotage of critical organizational infrastructures (e.g., database deletion)
Executing an APT attack requires significantly more resources than a standard web application attack. The perpetrators are typically teams of experienced cybercriminals with substantial financial backing, often funded by nation-state or state-sponsored groups. These entities represent a new level of cyber warfare (imperva.com).
If exceptionally bright human hackers can devise such strategies, brilliant spiritual hackers can potentially do even worse.
Children of the King are also susceptible to spiritual APT attacks. Our souls and spirits are relentlessly probed for weaknesses. The attackers usually possess sufficient intelligence about us; thus, their goal is not to extract information but to implant suggestions, ideas, and emotions. They utilize disinformation and misinformation in attempts to sabotage our relationship with the Father.
Revelation 12:9 The serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world… ..
We have an incredibly brilliant, cunning enemy who aims to thwart the Father’s purpose. “As the serpent, Satan deceives (2 Corinthians 11:3); and as the lion, Satan devours. The word ‘Satan’ means ‘adversary,’ and the word ‘devil’ means ‘the accuser, the slanderer’” (Wiersbe).
REFLECT & PRAY
“We must never forget that we are in a spiritual war. Regardless of how well things may seem to be going for us, we live in a perpetual war zone. How many casualties occur because we think we live in a time of peace” (Stanley)?
Father, our adversary is determined to harm us and turn us into spiritual casualties in our service to You. Teach us to recognize and understand our enemy, empowering us to stand firm and resist him until he flees.
INSIGHT
“The devil is always out to see whom he can ruin. Again, Peter must have been remembering how the devil had overcome him, and he had denied his Lord” (Barclay).
Luke 22:31-32
31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.”
32 “But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”
1 Peter 5:8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
“Peter portrayed the devil here as a roaring lion seeking to devour its prey. The devil roars like a lion to induce fear in the people of God. In other words, persecution is the roar by which he tries to intimidate believers in the hope that they will capitulate at the prospect of suffering. If believers deny their faith, then the devil has devoured them . . ..” (Schreiner).
The contrast between the Father’s goals and methods and those of the enemy, the devil, is stark and unmistakable. The Father gently and tenderly cares for His children (1 Peter 5:6-7), inviting them to cast their worries on Him so He can sustain them. He promises to protect and care for His flock, even in difficult times (1 Peter 5:2).
In contrast, the enemy seeks to terrify the children of the King, aiming to instill a fear that will erode their faith. He desires not to deliver them from fear but to destroy them. He is like a wounded, crazed animal lashing out in its final death throes.
What should the children of the King do? Should they capitulate and turn the other cheek? Absolutely not. As the saying goes, “Wolves will eat those who act like sheep” (Anonymous). Children of the King are instructed to be vigilant and resist. They are to stand firm against the devil and his schemes.
James 4:7 Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James commanded us to resist the devil actively and persistently. The Greek word for resist is antistete. Antistetemeans standing against, resisting, setting oneself against, opposing, and refusing to yield, whether in deed or word.
“This promise of the devil’s flight bears upon our understanding of his nature and influence. The devil had been referred to only indirectly up to this point (James 2:19; 3:6). He is the embodiment of all that resists God and is at enmity with God (James 4:4). James . . . [Reveals] absolute evil is never a positive force.”
“Evil cannot coerce the human will but is dependent upon it, much like a parasite. The devil is the active opponent of God and his people, but he resorts to his lying deceptive capacities. Human creatures who believe these lies contribute their physical and mental strengths to his cause of influencing humanity for their destruction and his glory.”
“The devil is not called the tempter within James, for temptation results from evil desire within the self (James 1:14). But the devil is close by the temptations and conflicts that humans cause. Nevertheless, if he is consciously resisted, in submission to God, the devil cannot fight back and must flee the attack that is our resistance to him.”
“How do believers know that he is present? Wherever envy and selfish ambition are present in the conflicts and quarrels of the body of Christ, the devil is there” (Richardson).
How do we do this?
Each child of the King needs to lean on, believe, and trust the Word of God and stand unwavering, refusing to budge! “Unless we stand, we cannot withstand . . . Just as David took his stand against Goliath and trusted in the name of the Lord, so we take our stand against Satan in the victorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Wiersbe).
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
5 We are destroying speculations, and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
“Our faith must be like a solid wall against which the attacks of the devil exhaust themselves in vain. The devil is like any bully and retreats when he is bravely resisted in the strength of Jesus Christ” (Barclay).
¯\_(ツ)_/¯1-24-3
© Dr. H 2024
Dr H Reflections 