Hacker Business Models

wiredmikey writes "The industrialized hackers are intent on one goal — making money. They also know the basic rules of the business of increasing revenues while cutting costs. As hackers started making money, the field became full of 'professionals' that inspired organized cyber crime. Similar to industrial corporations, hackers have developed their own business models in order to operate as a profitable organization. What do these business models look like? Data has become the hacker's currency. More data, more money. So the attack logic is simple: the more attacks, the more likely victim — so you automate ..."

Comments

ITYM "cracker"

[Kaz Kylheku]

I'm a hacker and I break out of loops, not into computers.

Cracker != Hacker

[Anonymous Coward]

Can Slashdot please be the lone voice of reason that doesn't feed into the newsmedia's misuse of the word "hacker"?

Re:Cracker != Hacker

[autocracy]

I officially give up on the cracker vs. hacker distinction. Hacker is a word with two meanings related respectively to exploration and compromise of computer systems. Crackers are things that go in your soup.

Basic rules of business don't necessarily apply

[digitaldc]

"They also know the basic rules of the business of increasing revenues while cutting costs."

True, but not all hackers/crackers/slackers do it to cut costs and increase revenue. Sometimes, it is just for notoriety.

Losing battle

[Infonaut]

The mainstream media has screwed this one up for years, but it's embarrassing to see hacker and cracker treated as equivalent terms in this, the last bastion of geekdom.

Re:Losing battle

[Frosty Piss]

The mainstream media has screwed this one up for years, but it's embarrassing to see hacker and cracker ...

The *only* people that differentiate between the two are the Slashdot crowd. To *everyone* else, an hacker is a hacker is a hacker.

Re:Losing battle

[LordNimon]

I'm sorry, but the word cracker is a perjorative for white people, and has been for at least a hundred years. If geeks want to differentiate among "good" and "bad" hackers, they (we) must come up with a better term.

I don't know any geek who uses the word "cracker" to refer to bad hackers.

Re:Losing battle

[KlaymenDK]

Perhaps it is a losing battle. Then again, in the spirit of "you miss all the shots you *don't* make", please bear with us as we keep repeating this.

There's some perfectly cromulent words for the...

[Chris Tucker]

...thieves and vandals that steal data, set up botnets or vandalize websites.

"Thieves and Vandals".

Thank you for your kind attention.

help needed!

[Kvasio]

Seems that kdawson has "hacked" into CmdrTaco's /. account