After reading the seven articles relating to the different motives for cyber crime I have broken them down into my personal beliefs ranking them most likely the cause/most common, to least likely/ less common.

Beginning with the most obvious, I believe money is absolutely be the number one objective from what I have gathered. This motive is ranked the highest because financial gain is the most common incentive for crime overall. Monetarily driven cyber crime, such as ransomware or financial fraud, are extremely common.

Second, I would choose politically driven because state-sponsored hacking, cyber hacking to influence elections, and attacks to gather political information are also very common. I feel this also ties into the money motive as cyber criminals can be paid for their espionage.

Third, I would choose multiple reasons. As the article elaborated, cybercriminals often have mixed motives, whether its financial gain with political or personal vendettas or something else. Humans are complex creatures and trying to dig into the one reason we are motivated to do something more commonly breaks down into multiple key factors.

Fourth, I think I would choose revenge and this one is ranked high to me due to the personal nature and emotion behind the crime. In cybersecurity they often tell you to look out for cyber criminals even inside your organization and I think its absolutely due to this reason. I have personally seen the effect of disgruntled employees damaging company IP on their way out the door after layoffs and it is NOT a pretty sight. Unfortunately, it is a common one.

I suppose next I would choose looking for recognition in the hacking community. The last couple ones were hard to pick from but I feel like this one is above the others as ego acts as such a strong motivator in every day life and this pushes cyber criminals regardless of financial gain. Everyone wants their name to go down for something important; I don’t imagine hackers to be any different.

For my sixth choice I would say as entertainment. I ranked this one lower because it’s less common and may not result in anything worthwhile for the individual. Even though some of the hackers might hack for a challenge/amusement, it’s really not as impactful as motives like financial gain or political influence.

Lastly, I would say hacking out of boredom is ranked the lowest because it lacks any real meaningful, or intentional motive. Cyber crime requires dedicated time, effort and planning and I really dont think boredom would cause someone to go out of their way to make such an impact.