A tactic represents the purpose and intent behind a cyber attacker's actions. Tactics are key components of the MITRE ATT&CK Framework, used to categorize attacker behaviors and visualize attack steps. They appear in the top row of the matrix.
As an example, the tactics on the enterprise matrix are shown in the image below:
(Image Source: mitre.org)
Tactics are expressed as general statements since they describe the purpose and reasoning behind cyber attacks. This is why tactics remain similar across different matrices.
For example, the image below shows detailed information about the "Initial Access" tactic belonging to the enterprise matrix:
(Image Source: mitre.org)
Note: Since the page in the above image has extensive content, only the top part is shown.
The tactic numbers and names in each matrix are listed below.
There are 14 tactics in the Enterprise matrix: