Cybercrime is a massive beast that many are trying to benefit from and other want help to control the damage done by and through it. The amount of motives is as big as the consequences of doing it, or being victims of it. But the some of the principal motives are entertainment, political motivation, revenge, boredom, recognition, monetary and multiple reasons.
The most that make sense to me is monetary gain. In this day and age many want gratification through acquiring great amount of money. Which they use to cover a wide range of things from personal necessities to expensive, exclusive things. Many people want riches without working for it. The second will be multiple reasons because it covert a range of motivation that aligned with the first one and cover money, fame and prestige. Third one will be boredom. In this case boredom or more like negligence put kids in a position of vulnerability that bad threat actors can exploit. Kids can be victims without needing to leave home and being capture. A threat actor can hack into a home cam and expose the child or instruct an older child how to use technology and expose themselves for depraved individuals to enjoy. They can also instruct them to do things and send videos and exploit them as well.
The fourth one is revenge. As a human being can be wrong many times and many think eye-for-an-eye. Revenge is a great motivator and one that many justify, saying things like “they started it” or they wrong me why can I give myself justice. The fifth for me will be political because this is an area that affect our everyday life because of the laws or policies put in place.
The sixth one will be recognition. If some person wants attention or make the news and “prove” that hey are smarter than the people they hack. Those bragging rights make sense in a twisted way. The last one will be entertainment. This one is tricky. On one part is because of boredom but in the content of not having anything to do with their time. The other part is I did it because I could. To show some kind of recognition even to themselves. Doing something just because is senseless when you are aware of the repercussions and possible legal problems arising from it.