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 Kiddies
The term emerged in the 1990s and refers to teenagers or inexperienced hackers running existing scripts, tools, and exploits that could cause harm. It was typically not done for profit.
Vulnerability Broker
These are usually gray hat hackers who attempt to discover exploits and report them to vendors, sometimes for prizes or rewards.
Hacktivists
These are gray hat hackers who rally and protest against different political and social ideas. Hacktivist publicly protest against organization or governments by posting articles, video, leaking sensitive information, and performing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
Cyber Criminals
These are black hat hackers who are either self-employed or working for large Cybercrime organizations. Each year, Cyber criminals are responsible for stealing billions of dollars from customers and businesses.
State Sponsored
Depending on a person’s perspective, these are either white hat or black hat hackers who steal government secrets, gather intelligence, and sabotage networks. Their targets are foreign government, terrorist groups and corporations.

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