- Multiple Reasons
- Money
- Political
- Revenge
- Entertainment
- Recognition
- Boredom
Having one reason may have enough influence on an individual or group to do something but with multiple factors being in play, I find this to make the most sense. If there weren’t multiple factors in play the list would be as it is starting from 2 through 7. Since there are, however, it feels like a no-brainer that someone would want to gain multiple things from cyberattacks than being sufficed with just one of them. Combinations of some or if not all have more implications on its effects such as money and political being reasons in comparison to boredom and recognition. With that being said, I believe money takes the next spot. Most criminals are drawn to money as a reward or for a potential gain of using their hacking skills. Some may do it to further their economic capabilities in future hacking, could be their job within an organization, or maybe they’re trying to put food on the table and this is a way they find feasible. Whatever the reason may be, the world revolves around money, and without it, you won’t make it very far so this is why this makes the most sense to me. Next is politics which everyone, whether you’re interested or not, is affected by politics. Wheter it is local, national, or global politics, these all dictate the way individuals can live their lives, within a legal standard. There are many politicians that identify with certain parties that obviously oppose many others’ beliefs. Wheter that be a single-issue voter to someone’s entire way of life, disagreements will be had. These disagreements can come from former cabinet members, everyday civilians, or international meddling within another country’s affairs. This makes a lot of sense because cyberattacks can influence elections, money, and the spread of misinformation that could severely dampen one’s ability to hold office. Next is revenge which could play into both money and politics as well as entertainment. Everyone has conflicts with someone else in their life and sometimes people take that personally and use this to motivate cyberattacks. An example would be a former employee who is disgruntled with their employer and was familiar with the companies network security system and then used this as an opportunity to attack them as a way of getting back. Next is entertainment which isn’t as justified for me to put it any higher than it is. Entertainment value for people is necessary to be happy in life and get away from things like school or work to have fun. Attacking someone’s cyber interface may be an option of entertainment for people because some people love to see a conflict between others. Just like watching reality tv where people binge-watch others interacting with one another, someone may use this philosophy by committing cybercrime. Next is the recognition which could coincide with many of the reasons listed above. Becoming a notorious cyber-criminal comes with gaining recognition for your crimes which makes sense just with anything you become recognizable for. This could be used because you want credit for your work or maybe trying to join a criminal organization and this was a resume booster for lack of better terms. Lastly is boredom which I feel has no justifiable means to go any higher on the list. Committing crimes for the heart point of boredom, especially with the knowledge of hacking a system proves that you could be doing so much more.