<p>The paper looks into the issue of proactive advanced persistent threats (APTs) identification in modern social networks. As these threats are quite unnoticeable and require a long-term, comprehensive monitoring of both technologies and users, a hybrid methodological framework is proposed. A combination of: experts’ knowledge and beliefs, system analysis and real environment interactive validation is presented to meet practical APT challenges. The obtained results provide an explanatory foundation for a better understanding the interaction process of the human factor with future technological developments and resulting threats advances in the evolving cyber space.</p>