Hackers Not Afraid of Being Caught

An anonymous reader wrote in to point us to an interview with Honeynet Founder Lance Spitzner where he says "Years ago it was hackers who were doing it for the bragging rights, now it's the criminals. The motivation has changed, hacking is now profitable and there's so much money to be made with very little risk to the actual hackers."

Comments

I know that we've already lost the war...

[Lord Kano]

The war for the meaning of the word "hacker", but come on now. If whatever you're doing is not for the satisfaction of the accomplishment, you're not really a hacker.

It's kind of like the distinction between a slut and a whore. Sluts do it because they enjoy it, whores do it for financial gain.

LK

Re:I smell a business opportunity.

[bberens]

Hammurabi's code had laws like "If you steal something form the temple, you will be put to death." A simple risk/profit analysis would indicate that stealing something from the temple is probably not worth it. However, 'hacking' on the internet is relatively low risk of getting caught and the punishments are relatively small. People will generally act within their own best interest and the legal ramifications are only one part of the consequences of action. In the case of home robbery, there's the shotgun blast to the face consequence on top of the legal ramifications. In the case of hacking, unless you hack the mob/FBI/CIA/IRS you're unlikely to find yourself in a 'car accident.'