Multiple sources that can harm an organization's systems are classified as threats. In cybersecurity risk terminology, a threat is any circumstance, event, actor, or condition with the potential to adversely impact confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Threats can be human (external attackers, insiders, third-party compromises), technical (malware, ransomware campaigns, exploit kits), operational (misconfigurations, weak processes, inadequate monitoring), or environmental (power disruption, natural disasters). This differs from a breach, which is the realized outcome where unauthorized access or disclosure has already occurred. It also differs from hacker, which refers to one type of threat actor rather than the broader category of potential harm. Ransomware is a specific threat type (malware that encrypts data and demands payment), not a general term for multiple sources of harm. Cybersecurity documents commonly pair "threats" with "vulnerabilities" and "controls": threats exploit vulnerabilities to create risk; controls reduce either the likelihood of exploitation or the impact if exploitation occurs. Identifying "multiple sources which can harm systems" is essentially threat identification-an early and ongoing step in risk management used to inform security architecture, monitoring, and incident preparedness. Therefore, the correct concept is threat.