Antonio Forzieri, Symantec's Europe, Middle East and Africa cyber security practice lead, discusses what drives hackers, and whether they can be turned away from the dark side.
Forzieri will be a speaker at ITWeb Security Summit 2015 next week. In this conversation with ITWeb, he discusses hackers, and why they break into systems.
Hackers are curious people, who solve problems in completely unexpected, unconventional and innovative ways, says Forzieri. He notes they are passionate researchers, great innovators, or just smart and curious guys.
Forzieri says hackers are driven by curiosity, a hunger for knowledge and a skill that lets them look at problems from a different angle. He says their top five motivations are:
* Money, money, money
* Subversion
* Sabotage
* Espionage
* Demonstration/public protest
Hackers can be defined by three different groups, says Forzieri:
1. Hacktivism
Hackers belonging to this group are usually driven by political or social reasons. Their activities range from distributed denial of service and Web site defacement attacks to data leakage. These activities are usually done as a demonstration or public protest against a specific topic.
2. Cyber crime
Cyber criminals have three main drivers, says Forzieri, which is "money, money and money". Cyber criminals usually run in organised groups that are well structured and operate in a hierarchical way. This group uses tools like banking Trojans for ransomware to generate cash. Symantec actively collaborates with law enforcement agencies to fight these groups. Organised criminals are also entering this arena.
3. Targeted attackers
Hackers belonging to this group have a lot of time and money. Their motivation is espionage and sabotage, and they are usually driven by corporations or governments. This group usually adopts the most innovative and persistent attack techniques to gain access to the target environment and they persist into the attacked environment for days, months or even years.
Not all hackers can be lured back from the dark side, says Forzieri. Attackers driven by the need to increase or prove their knowledge can probably be lured back easily. Governments and companies have a big need for really sharp skills in this space.
Share