July 26, 2024 | By christa

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What Drives Cybercriminals To Do What They Do?

• Cybersecurity

The year is 1989. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist working at a European particle physics laboratory known as CERN, just wrote the first proposal for an abstract titled “Information Management: A Proposal”. One year later, the  first server and browser supporting the World Wide Web’s prototype would be developed. 

Berners-Lee’s invention would revolutionize the world. However, before the idea of creating a global information system was even a thought in the back of Tim’s head, another world-changing concept had already existed for at least 100 years: hacking.  

Hacking involves finding the weak points in a computer’s system. There is such a thing as an ethical hacker, who is someone that seeks out these weaknesses to fix them. But then there are cybercriminals. Whether they be hackers, phishers, or rogue employees, these perpetrators exploit IT vulnerabilities typically for the purposes of extortion or blackmail.  

The first cyberattack occurred in 1834. Brothers François and Joseph Blanc decided to break into the French Telegraph System to steal information related to government bonds. By paying off a telegraph operator and hiring an accomplice, the brothers gained access to market information earlier than their competitors. 

Telegraphs are just as easy to exploit as the devices we use today. Computers as we now know them were not sold for personal use until 1977. It’s during this era that we see the rise of the first cybercriminal and expert at social engineering, Kevin Mitnick.  

Social engineering is the usage of psychological manipulation to gain further access to an IT system. It allows cybercriminals to remain undetected while using half the effort typically needed to hack a victim’s account.  

Have you ever received an email from “Amazon customer support” requesting your credit card information to check the status of an order? Or a call concerning your car’s extended warranty with a representative that just needs your social security number to confirm your eligibility? If so, then you are already familiar with the concept of social engineering.  

Mitnick was an expert of using these techniques to break into the databases of hardware companies, telephone companies, and federal institutions. He would end up on the FBI’s most wanted list and be arrested on two separate occasions, holding charges of wire fraud, possession of unauthorized access devices, unauthorized access to a federal computer, and interception of wire or electronic communications.  

You may be wondering, “why did Mitnick do what he did?” The answer is painfully simple: he just liked proving that he could do it. 

Understanding a cybercriminal’s motivations should be done on a case-by-case basis.  While most carry financial motivations like the Blanc brothers, others simply view hacking as a game of sport like Mitnick. Some cybercriminals carry out attacks for pettier reasons—spiteful ex-employees may hack into their previous employer’s systems to sell their private data on the dark web as an act of revenge. 

Another important thing to keep in mind about cyberattacks is that they can happen to anyone. Small businesses’ customer records and private government databases alike both have information that hackers can exploit.  

Earlier this year, an east coast town fell victim to an email scam that resulted in the loss of over $445,000 in taxpayer money. Social engineers were able to disguise themselves as a vendor working on a state-funded school building project. When the real vendor reported legitimate issues with processing their payment, the hackers seized the moment, tricking town officials into electronically transferring the money to them. 

The scariest part of this situation is that the cybercriminals responsible were already crawling through the town’s IT systems before the attack. By compromising employee accounts at an earlier date, they were able to lay low and monitor emails to find an opportune time to attack. 

Whether it be financial, vengeful, or done out of pure boredom, there’s plenty of reasons to explain what motivates a cybercriminal. In any case, understanding what motivations there are may allow those who are most vulnerable to an attack to set up safeguards before one happens.  

LeadingIT is a cyber-resilient technology and cybersecurity support provider. With our concierge support model, we provide customized solutions to meet the unique needs of nonprofits, schools, manufacturers, accounting firms, government agencies, and law offices with 20-200 employees in the Chicagoland area. Our team of experts solves the unsolvable while helping our clients leverage technology to achieve their business goals, ensuring the highest level of security and reliability.