Cyber Criminal Motives
Cyber criminal profiles and motives have changed over the years. Hacking started in the ‘60s with phone freaking (or phreaking) which refers to using various audio frequencies to manipulate phone systems. In the mid-‘80s, criminals used computer dial-up modems to connect computers to networks and used password-cracking programs to gain access to data. Nowadays, criminals are going beyond just stealing information. Criminals can now use malware and viruses as high tech weapons. However, the greatest motivation for most cyber criminals is financial. Cybercrime has become more lucrative than the illegal drug trade.
General hacker profiles and motives have changed quite a bit. The figure displays modern hacking terms and a brief description of each.
Script kiddie
A script kiddie, skript kiddie, skiddie, kiddie, or skid is an unskilled individual who uses scripts or programs developed by others, primarily for malicious purposes.
Characteristics
In a Carnegie Mellon report prepared for the U.K. Department of Defense in 2000, script kiddies are defined as
The more immature but unfortunately often just as dangerous exploiter of security lapses on the Internet. The typical script kiddy uses existing and frequently well known and easy-to-find techniques and programs or scripts to search for and exploit weaknesses in other computers on the Internet—often randomly and with little regard or perhaps even understanding of the potentially harmful consequences.
Script kiddies typically have at least one or more effective and easily downloadable programs capable of breaching computers and networks.
Script kiddies vandalize websites both for the thrill of it and to increase their reputation among their peers. Some more malicious script kiddies have used virus toolkits to create and propagate the Anna Kournikova and Love Bug viruses. Script kiddies lack, or are only developing, programming skills sufficient to understand the effects and side effects of their actions. As a result, they leave significant traces which lead to their detection, or directly attack companies which have detection and countermeasures already in place, or in some cases, leave automatic crash reporting turned on.
Although script kiddie attacks might become increasingly more effective in the future, researchers have noted that other models, like the language model, can also be used to enhance protection against the improved script kiddie attacks. This continuous back and forth improvement suggests that the competition between cyber attackers and defenders will continue to increase.
State-Sponsored
This type of event occurs when a government sponsors or carries out a cyber attack against another government or organization in a foreign country. State-sponsored attacks (SSAs) happen for various reasons: To infiltrate computer systems and IT infrastructure. To exploit governments and organizations for money.
Cyber Criminals
Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. These crimes involve the use of technology to commit fraud, identity theft, data breaches, computer viruses, scams, and expanded upon in other malicious acts.
Hacktivist
Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism, is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change.
Vulnerability Broker
Vulnerability broker refers to a threat actor attempting to discover exploits and report them to vendors, sometimes for prizes or rewards. These individuals operate by finding vulnerabilities in systems or software and then selling this information to interested parties, including the vendors who can fix the issues.