Virus Author Motives Changing

Tragamor writes "BBC News is reporting that, with the suspected authors behind the zotob virus recently arrested, they are giving insights into the motivation of modern hackers. With the availability of virus sourcecode, authors are spreading to countries which had previously no history of virus origins." From the article: "What the pair were probably taken aback by was the response that the worm generated. Few virus writers now want to hit the front pages, said Mr Hypponen, most prefer to have their creations sneak under the radar, rack up a few thousand unwitting victims who are then milked for money or saleable data. It appears that Mr Essebar was intending to make money several different ways from the people caught out by the Mytob and Zotob viruses he is alleged to have created. "

Comments

It used to be about ego, now it's more about money

[t35t0r]

It used to be about ego and saying "look what I can do" or "I was the first to do this", now it's more about 0-day exploits, scripting, and financial gain sometimes through extortion ..which is why they should go to jail!

Thanks....

[Ghengis]

Thanks for yet another bastardization of the term "hackers." Virus writers are not hackers, and hackers get offended when you associate them with such cretins.