HIGH-TECH CRIMES REVEALED: CYBERWAR STORIES FROM THE DIGITAL FRONT

Further Refinements

Let's try to take this knowledge a little further. We now see that a hacker's motivation determines the extent to which he will go in attacking a network, and the damage that they are looking to cause. How can we determine, before an attack, what might motivate a hacker to attack?

A fairly crude but effective measure is whether the hacker is an insider or an outsider. Let's call this the position of the hacker. By the hacker's position, I am referring to his or her position relative to their target(s) of attack. The insider hacker attacks systems within his or her own company, while the outsider needs to get past the exterior network security before the hacking begins. Insiders are more likely to hack for revenge, while outsiders ...