There are several factors that contribute to an individual’s decision to commit a cybercrime. Ranging from extrinsic, intrinsic, or potentially both. Over time, an individual’s motives have been boiled down to seven reasons. This journal entry will rank each motive from the most probable to the least likely based on personal reasoning. We will start with the motive that makes the most sense and gradually work our way to the one that makes the least sense, beginning with one and ending with seven.

1. Multiple Reasons. This is the most sensible motivation. Although a cybercriminal’s reasons may still be simple, they are rarely driven by a single motivation. It can be for money, power, revenge, or for the thrill of it, all at once.

2. Money. If a cybercriminal had one reason for doing a crime, it would most likely be for monetary gain. It is the simplest reward factor. A good number of individuals wouldn’t go through the hassle of putting themselves at risk, especially committing a cybercrime, unless there is a reward that outweighs the risk.

3. Entertainment. It is a factor that is hard to rationalize, but it is a real one. There is something inherently exciting about hacking into corporations and leaking potentially confidential information or messing up millions of social media accounts just for the fun of it. Not every criminal needs a monetary gain; they love to commit a crime because it is the one thing that excites them.

4. Boredom. It is similar to entertainment because if the person committing a cybercrime is bored, they need something to entertain them. The individual doesn’t have much happening for them, no goals, no aspirations. So, to satisfy their boredom, they might commit a cybercrime.

5. Revenge. Although this can be motivated by political or personal reasons, a person who feels they have been wronged will often go to great lengths to exact revenge against the offender. Committing a cybercrime might be the easiest way for them to do that.

6. Political. Some of the most significant cyberattacks that have occurred in recent years were motivated by political reasons. However, the number of cybercrimes with a political motivation is not as large as the total number of cybercrimes committed for all the listed motivations so far.

7. Recognition. This is the least sensible motivation. Professional cybercriminals do not want to be recognized; they want to stay anonymous as best as they can. At best, they can have a codename, but that is it.