A "soft target" is a person, thing, or location that is easily accessible to the general public and relatively unprotected, making it vulnerable to military strikes, terrorism, car bombs, or crimes such as vehicle-ramming attacks or mass shootings.
[2] However, typical "soft targets" are civilian sites where unarmed people congregate in large numbers; examples include national monuments, hospitals, schools, sporting arenas, hotels, cultural centers, movie theaters, cafés and restaurants, places of worship, nightclubs, shopping centers, transportation sites (such as railway stations, buses, rail systems, and ferries), and farmers' cooperatives.
[5] Examples of hard targets include airports, government buildings, military installations, diplomatic missions, and power stations.
[10] Military and paramilitary groups may adopt a strategy of attacking soft targets in order to avoid direct confrontation with a stronger opponent.
For example, U.S. military general John Galvin noted in 1987 that Contra rebels switched to civilian targets rather than continuing the direct fighting against the Sandinista National Liberation Front.