Here is how I ranked the motives from 1 to 7, along with why I chose each number:
1. For Money: Making money is a strong and global drive. Cybercriminals often do things like theft, ransomware, and phishing to make money. The story about how cybercriminals spend their money shows how important money is to them in committing these crimes.
2. Status and recognition: A lot of cybercriminals want to be known and respected in their groups. The story about Bradley Niblock’s DDoS attack on the election shows how people may commit cybercrimes to get attention and respect.
3. Revenge: People with grudges against others may commit cybercrimes. The story of revenge porn victims in Wales demonstrates how very personal reasons can lead to harmful actions taken online.
4. Political: Hacktivism and hacking done for political reasons are on the rise. The story about young hackers joining the hacktivism movement shows how people’s political views can make them break the law online.
5. Entertainment: Some people commit cybercrimes just for fun or to get a thrill. The LinkedIn scraping case shows that some criminals do illicit things because they find hacking fun and challenging.
6. Boredom: People, especially younger people, can do things online like stalking or online grooming when they are bored. The story about how these activities are becoming more popular among kids shows how being bored can make people do undesirable things.
7. Multiple Reasons: Some hackers are driven by complicated reasons that include more than one thing. It’s challenging to pinpoint a single motivation behind hackers’ actions due to the diverse range of factors that contribute to their criminal behavior.
I have ranked this list according to the frequency and severity of each motive’s contribution to cybercrime. The most powerful reasons are money and fame, while boredom and a lot of different reasons are put lower because they have less of an effect.