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The reasons and motivations of hackers engaged in cyberattacks continue to grow. Long gone are the days one could simply say hackers do it for the fun, thrill, or challenge. The new reality is that hackers hack for a variety of financial, political, and ideological reasons. Many people may think they are not an appealing target for a hacker. In fact, hackers can use access to anyone’s accounts or devices as a launching pad with the goal of gaining access to larger networks to discover valuable assets.

Hacking as hobby

Back in the 80’s and 90’s the phrase “hacker” seemed to apply to only one person: Kevin Mitnick. Mitnick first gained notoriety after he gain unauthorized access to Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computer network at the age of 16. to copy their software. He was one of the first hackers to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. While hackers these days generally have other motives some still hack simply to prove they can outsmart government and corporate IT and security by infiltrating their systems.

Hacking to steal or blackmail

Odds are that anyone reading this post has received a letter at some time containing a notification of free credit monitoring due to some sort of security breech. Some hackers will focus on breaking into those systems or devices to infiltrate bank and financial accounts. Others break into systems to install ransomware software that locks a computer or mobile device by encrypting electronic files. Access can generally be reclaimed by paying the ransom.

Hacking to crash a service

The goal of some hackers is to simply crash a system or web site.This goal of such hackers is often not only knock a company’s website out of service for a while, but to cripple the online presence of what is seen as competition. One common technique used is known as a Denial-of-Service attack where the system is flooded with superfluous requests in an attempt to overload it.

Hacking to steal and leak information

The theft and posting of emails on WikiLeaks during the 2016 election will forever leave as a classic example of this type of hack. The goal for these hackers is to steal, publishing, and possibly sell trade secrets as well as exposing activities of governments, organizations, or individuals.

Hacking to expose security flaws 

There are some hackers that will actively work to break into systems with the express goal of exposing security holes.  The justification for this kind of hacking is to prevent harmful attacks by showing the world how vulnerable our a system, service, or device is to hacking. An example of this type of hack resulted in the discovery and communication of serious security flaws in the software used to register voting tallies in Germany.

Hacktivism

Sometimes, hackers are vigalentes trying to raise awareness about a political issue or wishing to create chaos.  These hackers may use any of the above reasons for hacking.  An example of hacktivism is the hacking done by Anonymous during the Occupy Wall Street movement.