What motivates a hacker?

by DanTheMan 13 Replies latest social current

• 

  DanTheMan

  Is it money? The challenge? A militant anticapitalist or antitechnology ideology?

  I just can't figure out why some people work so tirelessly to infect my computer with viruses, to find ways to skirt around the spam filtering programs that screen my email, to f*ck up the computers at the company I work for so that we'll lose money, etc...

  I guess a hacker would justify themselves by saying "we serve a needed function by finding security holes and programming flaws" but if they were real humanitarians wouldn't they call Microsoft and say "hey I figured out a way that I could, were I an evil person, to infect a bunch of computers with a virus that would really screw them up due to a flaw in your code"? No, but instead of doing that, they screw up a bunch of computers. So no, Mr. Hacker, don't kid yourself by saying you serve a purpose. There's better ways to go about it.

  And identity thieves, who are these people that go running up bills on other peoples credit cards? I don't know of anybody in my life who would do this!!! Where do they live? Are they just greedy slobs who don't want to make a real living? Or is it a much larger, more international type of organized operation, with super-rich bad guys like in the movies running the show?

  Just thought I'd rant about a subject I really know very little about but it annoys the hell out of me. I hate thieves!!! I hate people that try to screw up my computer!!!
• 

  imallgrowedup

  I vote for "the challenge"
• 

  DanTheMan

  So why don't they go get a super-challenging video game or something to play? Or better yet, design their own!

  5 ball juggling. Now there's a challenge!
• 

  RandomTask

  Because hacking is real, its out there on real systems that are being used by real people.

  Its like saying, why have sex with a real woman if there are blow up dolls?

  No, no, I'm not saying I agree with their behavior though.
• 

  jgnat

  My granddaughter and I enjoyed building the tallest tower we could with our lego.

  Then we knocked it down!

  HAHAHAHAHAHAA

  Guess what was faster?

  Guess what was funnest?
• 

  DanTheMan

  It's fun to knock your own lego tower down. It is pathological to delight in knocking other people's lego towers down.

  Random, I know that the real-world challenge is motivating, it is the maliciousness that I don't get.
• 

  drwtsn32

  Just thought I'd rant about a subject I really know very little about but it annoys the hell out of me. I hate thieves!!! I hate people that try to screw up my computer!!!

  Blame script kiddies or crackers, not hackers.

  Hackers are usually people very passionate about computers and know them inside/out. They like to explore the details about how an operating system or hardware works and try to figure out how to stretch its capabilities. Hackers aren't "bad" at all.

  Crackers are malicious hackers who seek to do damage. Prestige and challenge are probably the biggest reasons.

  Script kiddies probably do the most damage just because there are so many of them. They aren't skilled enough to design an attack themselves... they simply download scripts to exploit vulnerabilities and attack various systems for the fun of it.
• 

  Simon

  They are just vandals. They dont have the skills or patience to create and build things up themselves so they just try and destroy what other people do.

  The same reasons why people smash windows, draw graffiti and scratch cars IMO.

  There is confusion about hackers, crackers and so on though.

  Some worm and virus writers are motivated by money as the infected machines are often used as relays for spammers. Follow the money.
• 

  DanTheMan

  I used to do some vandalism back in the day, I guess with these "script kiddies" it's the same mentality. Little jerks!!!!
• 

  Puternut

  Challenge is one thing. Power is another. Often hackers work in groups. It's a competition thing between them. I used to know some hackers. They were on Meth all the time, and spent days on end without sleep, creating programs and scripts.

  I don't see the benefits of it. Most don't see the results of their work. You infect one program, others get it, but you can't see how other people have to clean out their system files. Or the frustration they have to deal with. So I think it's pointless.

  Puternut