Attacks for fun, challenge and recognition

Every attack has a motive behind it, and the motive shapes what the attacker does. Two motives that are easy to confuse are attacking for fun or for the challenge and attacking for recognition. Neither attacker is usually trying to make money.

Fun and the challenge

Some people attack systems because working out how to get past the security is interesting. The aim is to put their abilities to the test, try out something they have just learned, or prove to themselves what they can do. Others simply want to know whether access is possible at all.

For an attacker like this, the win is getting in. They may take nothing and change nothing once they are inside, because the experience of defeating the security was the whole point.

Recognition and respect

Other attackers want to be noticed. They want people to see what they achieved and to be impressed, so they often choose a target that will be talked about. That might be a large, well-known organisation, or a site that matters to a group they want to impress, such as a fan-run wiki for a cult TV series or a national gaming tournament's leaderboard. Being talked about brings the attacker more attention than breaking into a system nobody discusses.

Because the aim is publicity, this attacker usually wants their success to be seen. For example, someone who gets into a retailer's customer accounts page might post a screenshot of the admin view on a forum, instead of quietly copying members' email addresses.

The motive matters because it tells you what the attacker was after. An attacker chasing a challenge is satisfied by reaching the system, while an attacker chasing recognition needs other people to hear about it – the achievement only counts once it has been seen.