Mostly for the money. While some hackers do it for fame, because they're disgruntled ex-employees or because they view hacking as sport, the majority of cyber criminals do it for the money. Verizon's 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report found that 86% of the data breaches they analysed were financially motivated.
Stolen personal information is fuel for identity theft
Many online services require users to fill in personal details such as full name, home address and credit card number. Criminals steal this data from online accounts to commit identity theft, such as using the victim's credit card or taking loans in their name.
Hackers include links in spam emails or on fake websites, which will trigger a malware download if you click on the link. Keylogger programs enable hackers to spy on you, as the malware captures everything you type. Once inside, the malware can explore your computer and record keystrokes to steal passwords.
Can a hacker access my computer camera, microphone, and screen? Yes. Cybercriminals use malware like spyware to remotely access and control your camera, microphone, and screen. In fact, malicious actors often use camera and microphone recordings to blackmail people.
The goal might be financial gain, disrupting a competitor or enemy, or theft of valuable data or intellectual property. Their clients might be nation-states, companies interested in corporate espionage, or other criminal groups looking to resell what the hackers steal.
Hacking refers to activities that seek to compromise digital devices, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, and even entire networks. Hackers are motivated by personal gain, to make a statement, or just because they can.
Bragging Rights. Hackers like to show off for attention, bragging rights, and credibility amongst their peers. They might be showing off their technical prowess, how much money they made or hacking for a cause. One of the top reason's hackers get caught is because they share their hacks and breaches online.
One of history's most recent and biggest hacks is the LinkedIn API breach of 2021. Personal records of over 700 million users – 92% of the user base – were scraped from the platform and put up for sale in a hacker forum. Why did this happen?
Phishing is the most common hacking technique.
In the age of remote work, hackers are actively targeting kids, with implications for enterprises. Video games are a part of nearly every kid's life, and distributed work is increasingly a part of every adult's.
Hackers often go after financial institutions because of the opportunity to gain access to personal financial information. Additionally, they may try to gain access to accounts such as credit cards or investment portfolios. Common attacks in this industry include ransomware, server outages and data breaches.
However, hackers use most spyware for more malicious purposes: to steal your data without you knowing it and use that data to make money off of you in some way.
The biggest motivation is often financial gain. Hackers can make money by stealing your passwords, accessing your bank or credit card details, holding your information to ransom, or selling your data to other hackers or on the dark web.
Many people assume that hackers make their money only by stealing information or taking advantage of unsuspecting victims, but actually, they can do a lot more than that. In fact, hackers can earn money in a variety of ways, many of which are quite legitimate.
A good hacker will be able to understand security concepts and technologies. The only way to overcome the obstructions established by the security admins is to become familiar with them. The hacker must know public key infrastructure (PKI), secure sockets layer (SSL), firewalls, intrusion detection system (IDS), etc.
Hackers are always eager to infect your device with malware and trojans. By installing keyloggers on your phone, a cybercriminal can monitor your activity and secretly view your login data for websites and apps.
A hacker can't know who you are through your IP address. They can use it to find who you are and see where you live. For example, your IP address is linked to your ISP, so criminals can use scams or network attacks to get your personal information from them.
“Therefore, if someone hacks your phone, they would have access to the following information: email addresses and phone numbers (from your contacts list), pictures, videos, documents, and text messages.” Additionally, he warns, hackers can monitor every keystroke you type on the phone's keyboard.
Hackers will often use secure software such as a proxy server to hide their identity and funnel their communications through lots of different countries in order to evade detection. Other technologies like Tor and encryption enable them to add multiple layers to mask their identity.
Although a hacker has to be relatively close to your phone — within 67 feet — to gain information, he or she can use a device that detects your phone's radio spectrum and tracks your keystrokes. As you can imagine, your keystrokes could give away highly-classified personal information.
Hacking is a considerable crime when it affects others through loss of information, privacy problems or monetary impact. The state or federal agency involved in the case may consider the matter a computer crime such as computer fraud or cyberterrorism.
Hackers typically use spear phishing for targets in whom they've taken a deliberate interest. This process could take several days, weeks, or even months, depending on public (or privately-sourced) information about the target.