Money, politics, multiple reasons, entertainment, boredom, recognition, and revenge. These are the motives with which I was tasked to rank from 1-7 (most sense to least).
I ranked money as number 1 because of my personal beliefs. Money is the great motivator, and everyone has a price. That being said, stealing from people online with little to no recourse from it seems like an “easy” way to make a buck. There are actual companies abroad dedicated to scamming people out of their money.
Politics is second largely due to the fact politics is the very core of how nations are run and maintain order. Outside entities can influence the sway of power with hacking and hacktivism. This motive could easily be considered first as power and money generally go hand in hand. Hacktivism is the reason this motivation is not first.
Multiple reasons come in third because of how “general” it is. I believe the more impactful motives belong in the top spots but because multiple reasons can be a little bit of everything it has earned its position in this list.
In fourth place for motives, we have revenge. The linked article was in regard to revenge porn, a truly heinous act, but revenge is a retaliation to an event/act. This includes a fired employee that wants to get back at their former employer or a disgruntled/scorned person/group that wants to inflict grief or hardship. Of the listed motives, revenge is the only one that has the sole purpose of intentional evil.
Entertainment and boredom are really one in the same. The article from the Herald Live specifically said, “Children also look for alternative ways to entertain themselves.” Granted, their topic was much more intense, the idea remains that the cure for boredom is entertainment thus these two motives are in position 5.
In last place, we have recognition because only a few make national headlines. Since beginning my cybersecurity major, I have learned about more and more hacker groups and individuals I would have otherwise not learned about. The circle of importance or recognition is niche. That is unless the hacker’s purpose for recognition is to build their resume. In the Register’s article they state that the hacker is a web designer. It is possible that his actions gave him enough “credit” as a computer geek to land said job.
• Entertainment https://9to5mac.com/2021/07/19/man-behind-linkedin-scraping/
• Recognition https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/30/bradley_niblock_election_ddos/