Hacking For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 2. Cracking the Hacker Mindset

In This Chapter

• Understanding the enemy

• Profiling hackers and rogue insiders

• Understanding why attackers do what they do

• Examining how attackers go about their business

Before you start assessing the security of your own systems, it helps to know something about the enemies you're up against. Many information security product vendors and other professionals claim that you should protect your systems from the bad guys — both internal and external. But what does this mean? How do you know how these people think and work?

Knowing what hackers and rogue insiders want helps you understand how they work. Understanding how they work helps you look at your information systems in a whole new way. In this chapter, I describe what you're up against, who's actually doing the hacking, and what their motivations and methods are so you're better prepared for your ethical hacking tests.

What You're Up Against

Thanks to sensationalism in the media, the definition of hacker has transformed from harmless tinkerer to malicious criminal. Be that as it may, hackers often state that the general public misunderstands them, which is mostly true. It's easy to prejudge what you don't understand. Unfortunately, many hacker stereotypes aren't based on fact but on misunderstanding, fueling a constant debate.

Hackers can be classified by both their abilities and their underlying motivations. Some are skilled, and their motivations are benign; they're merely seeking more knowledge. ...