How Hackers Make Money and the Ethics at Play

How hackers make money

There are different types of hackers online, some of them with bad intentions, others with good. While there are undoubtedly those who just hack for fun, the majority of malicious hacking is done, unsurprisingly, for financial gain. There are a lot of ways someone with a certain set of cyber skills can make money. The above-board way is to become a penetration tester, which can lead to a long, lucrative and satisfying career. However there are those who embrace the dark side become a hacker – and there’s a lot of ways a hacker can monetise their misdeeds.

From simple, age-old tactics to clever new strategies, there’s a lot that keeps the hackers’ economy afloat. Remember, most hackers are going to give all of them a go at the same time, so you need to be alert.

How hackers use phising as a profit centre

Phishing is one of the most common examples. This practise can easily cause a business no end of mischief. A more extreme version is whaling. Like phishing, whaling is the practise of sending an email in order to trick a user into doing something, only it specifically targets those higher up the chain of command.

This is an easy way to commit CFO (or CEO) fraud by tricking a user into authorising a payment in response to a false invoice or simply stating that a wire transfer has to occur.

Protecting your business from online threats

It's vital to take daily steps to prevent global cyber attacks, whether you're a startup, SME, or enterprise-level business or organisation. With our team of experienced UK cyber security experts, you can do just that. Contact us today for a free consultation on how to protect your online space.