There has been much talk recently about the Advanced Persistent Threat Since that story broke, the term can definitely be seen scaling Mount Hype, with high probability of reaching the summit by the RSA Conference. The term originated with the US Air Force around 2006, which explains why Bejtlich and others with an Air Force pedigree, such as Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia, have made much of the term. It doesn t help that the term itself plays to the U in FUD, particularly when tactics are neither advanced nor seemingly persistent.
Source: https://threatpost.com/its-iadversariesi-who-are-advanced-and-persistent-012610/73426/