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Survey: Average Successful Hack Nets Less Than $15,000 (csoonline.com)

Posted by timothy on from the short-attention-span dept.

itwbennett writes: According to a Ponemon Institute survey, hackers make less than $15,000 per successful attack and net, on average, less than $29,000 a year. The average attacker conducts eight attacks per year, of which less than half are successful. Among the findings that will be of particular interest to defenders: Hackers prefer easy targets and will call off an attack if it is taking too long. According to the survey, 13 percent quit after a delay of five hours. A delay of 10 hours causes 24 percent to quit, a delay of 20 hours causes 36 to quit, and a majority of 60 percent will give up if an attack takes 40 additional hours. 'If you can delay them by two days, you can deter 60 percent of attacks,' said Scott Simkin, senior threat intelligence manager at Palo Alto Networks, which sponsored the study.

3 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Criminals like easy targets: News at 11 by CajunArson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    " Hackers prefer easy targets and will call off an attack if it is taking too long. "

    I'm shocked to hear that criminals using computers are exactly like criminals who have been practicing their trade since probably long before recorded history began.

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
  2. Less than... less than... less than... by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    hackers make less than $15,000 per successful attack and net, on average, less than $29,000 a year. The average attacker conducts eight attacks per year, of which less than half are successful.

    Unless the first two numbers are way off, they suggest the average hacker has (less than) two successful attacks which would be (less than) a quarter of the average eight per year.

    A quick rewrite:

    hackers make more than $14,000 per successful attack and net, on average, more than $28,000 a year. The average attacker conducts eight attacks per year, of which more than a quarter are successful.

    There, that's a much more positive spin on things!

    If I was amoral and had the skills, I'd take up hacking at those prices. A 25% chance of $14,000 for a week's work? Where do I sign up?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  3. Re:Oh those poor hackers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I bet they're not even paying income taxes on that.