The advanced persistent threat (APT) is not really all that advanced or new, that it is being made too big a deal of (or FUD) The problem is that many industry practitioners are being misled to believe that the APT involves nearly any adversary that pulls off a large-scale attack or breach of security. The term APT has caused complacency in the industry and a belief that the general threats are more skillful and harder to address than they truly are.
Source: https://threatpost.com/advanced-threats-are-not-all-apt-072011/75455/