Review the articles linked with each individual motive. Rank the motives from 1 to 7 as the motives that you think make the most sense (being 1) to the least sense (being 7). Explain why you rank each motive the way you rank it.
The seven different individual motives that were reviewed are: Entertainment, Political, Revenge, Boredom, Recognition, For Money, and Multiple Reasons. The following ranks each motive from making the most sense (being 1) to making the least amount of sense (being 7) and explains why I ranked them the way that I did.
1. Multiple Reasons:
When examining a cyber criminal and what motivates them, it is very clear that there are many factors to consider. According to research, not only are “cyber criminals financially motivated, but they are also driven by ego as well as socioeconomic and psychological factors” (Kacy). This motivational factor makes the most sense to me because in order to fully understand the profile of a cyber-criminal and their motivations, one must give full thought to the multiple reasons that could drive them.
2. For Money:
When considering why people do majority of the things that they do, it can be seen that money is involved in some way. The same is true for cyber-criminals where money is a huge motivational factor in committing cyber-crimes. In a study titled Into the Web of Profit it was found that a cyber-criminal could make between $42,000 and $2,000,000 depending on their level and status (Carole). When looking at those earnings, one could see why it would motivate someone to commit a crime, not too much mention it’s all tax free.
3. Revenge:
Revenge as a motive makes sense to me because a lot of criminals are vengeful. If a criminal felt any sort of negative way towards a person, that person could easily become a victim or target. A huge issue that is currently being dealt with is Revenge Porn where the criminals are often ex-partners of the victim. The damage that is done from doing something like this is irreparable and it stems from nothing other than a need for revenge (Lisa). Revenge Porn isn’t the only example of a revenge-style cyber-crime. Many criminals will feel compelled to target someone because of getting back money, a political advancement, and many other reasons that relate to psychology.
4. Political:
Political motivations are a huge factor to consider in criminology. According to a U.S. counterintelligence strategy that was recently released, “ideologically motivated entities such as hactivists, leaktivists, and public disclosure organizations are now viewed as significant threats alongside five countries, three terrorist groups, and transnational criminal organizations” (New generation). This shows that the growth of these groups motivated by politics are increasing and have to be considered when examining cyber-criminals motivations. I feel that political motivations are one of the strongest motivations for lots of individuals in the world, especially cyber-criminals.
5. Recognition:
For many criminals, they commit crimes in order to gain some sort of recognition. A lot of studies on school shooters and murderers have shown that they commit these crimes because they want a sense of fame or recognition. This is also true in some ways for cyber-criminals. An example of this was when Bradley Niblock launched a DDoS assault against an election website. The court heard that he was “a 22 year-old that was a self-confessed computer geek who was posing as UGLegion to attract likes to his Twitter site” (Corfield). This young man performed an attack just to gain some notoriety within Twitter’s platform. To me, recognition is still a factor, but it doesn’t make as much sense as motivations such as money, politics, revenge, and other multiple reasons combined.
6. Entertainment:
Entertainment as a motivational factor for crime makes less sense to me because while they may have fun doing a crime, there are most likely other factors that influenced them. For example, Tom Liner hacked LinkedIn “for fun” and was able to compile a database of 700 million users all around the world. He later sold the same information that he got “for fun” (Lovejoy). To me, the money was a bigger motivation, rather than just getting enjoyment out of doing the crime. I know that some criminals actually do the things they do for fun, but to me it doesn’t make as much sense as the other motivational factors.
7. Boredom:
The motivational factor that makes the least sense to me is boredom. However, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist or isn’t happening. Many pedophiles and adults that attempt to groom children are solely motivated out of their boredom and peaked interests. With many children getting devices as early as the age of 10, they are exposed to these online predators. It is interesting to note that the boredom of both the children and pedophiles increase the risk of children falling victim to cyberbullying and grooming (Sonjica). Boredom does increase the risk of issues such as these to happen, however, I feel that this makes the least amount of sense in comparison to the other motivational factors.
References:
- Kacy Zurkus News WriterEmail KacyConnect on LinkedIn. (2018, August 15). What drives hackers to a life of cybercrime? Infosecurity Magazine. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/what-drives-hackers-to-a-life-of/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_c1d89a4695edbd23f2bceb54d70f35ce5e536e86-1626721164-0-gqNtZGzNAfijcnBszQi6
- Carole, J. (2021, April 8). How cybercriminals spend their money (infographic). HP Wolf Security. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://threatresearch.ext.hp.com/sex-drugs-and-toilet-rolls-how-cybercriminals-spend-their-money-infographic/
- Lisa Baker, E. (2019, July 11). Revenge porn victims in Wales often feel ‘let down by the law’ as cybercrime slips through the net. News from Wales. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://newsfromwales.co.uk/revenge-porn-victims-in-wales-often-feel-let-down-by-the-law-as-cybercrime-slips-through-the-net/
- New generation of angry & youthful hackers join the ‘hacktivism’ wave, adding to cyber-security woes. The Economic Times. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/new-generation-of-angry-youthful-hackers-join-the-hacktivism-wave-adding-to-cyber-security-woes/articleshow/81707844.cms
- Corfield, G. (2021, June 30). 8-month suspended sentence for script kiddie who ddos’d labour candidate in runup to 2019 UK general election. The Register® – Biting the hand that feeds IT. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/30/bradley_niblock_election_ddos/
- Lovejoy, B. (2021, July 19). Man behind linkedin scraping said he grabbed 700m profiles ‘for fun’. 9to5Mac. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://9to5mac.com/2021/07/19/man-behind-linkedin-scraping/
- Sonjica, N. (2021, May 31). Cyberbullying and online sexual grooming of children ‘on the increase’. HeraldLIVE. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2021-05-31-cyberbullying-and-online-sexual-grooming-of-children-on-the-increase/
** The references are not in alphabetical order. Instead, they are in order of the ranking of the different motivations **