• Articles
    • Editorial Articles
    • Research Articles
    • WatchGuard Articles
  • The 443 Podcast
  • Threat Landscape
  • About
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Contribute to Secplicity

Secplicity - Security Simplified

Powered by WatchGuard Technologies

Know Thy Enemy: The Money Motivated Hacker

October 13, 2017 By The Editor

Next up on our hacker profiles series, the cyber criminal.

You’re probably most familiar with the cyber criminal hacker profile, since they’ve been around longer than the rest. This group’s motive is pretty obvious; to make money using any means necessary.

Cyber criminal groups can range from a few lone actors who are just out for themselves, to big cyber crime organizations, often financed and headed by traditional criminal organizations. This hacker profile is responsible for stealing billions of dollars from consumers and businesses each year.

These criminal attackers participate in a rich underground economy, where they buy, sell, and trade attack toolkits, zero day exploit code, botnet services, and intellectual property they steal from victims. Recently, their focus has been on web exploit kits, such as Blackhole, Phoenix, and Nuclear Pack, which they use to automate and simplify drive-by download attacks.

Their targets vary from small businesses and consumers, whom they attack opportunistically, to large enterprises and industry verticals, who they target with specific goals in mind. In an attack on the banking and credit card industry, a very organized group of cyber criminals was able to steal 45 million dollars globally from ATMs, in a highly synchronized fashion. The attack was made possible due to an initial, targeted network breach against a few banks and a payment processor company.

Now that you know a little about this enemy, you should focus on getting to know your current defenses. Subscribe to Secplicity to stay current on the most recent threats.

Share This:

Related

Filed Under: Editorial Articles

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The 443 Podcast

A weekly podcast featuring the leading white-hat hackers and security researchers. Listen Now
the 443 podcast

Threat Landscape

Filter and view Firebox Feed data by type of attack, region, country, and date range. View Now
threat landscape

Top Posts

  • US National Cybersecurity Strategy
  • Here Come The Regulations
  • Successfully Prosecuting a Russian Hacker
  • Cybersecurity’s Toll on Mental Health

Email Newsletter

Sign up to get the latest security news and threat analysis delivered straight to your inbox

By signing up you agree to our Privacy Policy.


The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of WatchGuard Technologies.

Stay in Touch

Recent Posts

  • An Update on Section 230
  • Here Come The Regulations
  • US National Cybersecurity Strategy
  • Cybersecurity News: Free Cybersecurity Training, TrickBot Group Exposed, Major GoDaddy Breach, and Russia to Legalize cybercrime?!
  • Cybersecurity’s Toll on Mental Health
View All

Search

Archives

Copyright © 2023 WatchGuard Technologies · Cookie Policy · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use