What are two common lifecycle stages for an advanced persistent threat (APT) that is infiltrating...

Lateral movement is a key stage where the attacker moves across the network to find valuable targets.

Privilege escalation involves gaining higher access rights to expand control within the compromised environment.

Communication with covert channels is a tactic used during persistence or exfiltration, while deletion of critical data is not a standard APT lifecycle stage — it’s more characteristic of destructive attacks.