Why Malicious Hackers Hack

It begs the question: Why do malicious hackers hack? It used to be that hacking was for people to prove their hacking skills, and maybe brag to their hacker friends or to protest a corporate or political policy. In the past, intentional maliciousness and damage was the rarity, not the norm. Today, those types of hackers have been chased out by highly organized, distributed bands of professional criminals.

The primary intent of most malware and hackers today is for criminal gain. For that reason, many security experts now call malware crimeware. The name appropriately classifies the intent. Criminal hacking is so prevalent and widespread that it barely makes the newspaper. One-third of every adult American's identity was stolen in 2006 alone.

In the old days, if malware was found on someone's PC, an antivirus scanner was run, and the threat removed. Only the security paranoid recommended formatting the computer and starting all over. Today, that is precisely what all administrators should do. If hacking or malware is suspected on a computer, its legitimate data should be backed up (if not already), the hard drive(s) formatted, the OS installed and patched from knowingly clean media, and the data restored.

The compromised users should change all their passwords, not only on the local machine and network, but on remote resources as well (for example, Internet bank). The user should consider notifying their credit card companies and banks, and monitor their bank accounts and credit reports. The days of friendly and benevolent hackers are over. Today, hacking and malware are malicious and criminal.