Categories of Cyber Criminals

Categories of Cyber Criminals

Any person who commits an illegal act with a guilty intention or commits a crime is called a criminal. In this context, any person who commits a cyber crime is known as a cyber criminal.

The cyber criminals may be children and adolescents; they may be organized hackers, may be professional hackers or crackers, discontented employees, cheaters or even psychic persons. Thus, the cyber criminals comprise of various groups or categories. The following are the main categories of cyber criminals-

(1) Children and adolescents:-

The most obvious reason for this type of delinquent behaviour pattern in children is seen mostly due to their curiosity to know and explore the things. Other associated reason may be to prove themselves to be outstanding amongst other children in their group. In certain cases, the reasons may be psychological even. It has been found that most of the amateur hackers and cyber criminals are teenagers. These young rebels may also commit cyber crimes without actually knowing that they are doing anything wrong. According to the BBC, teen hackers have gone from simply trying to make a name for themselves to actually working their way into a life of crime from the computer angle.

(2) Organised Hackers:-

These kinds of hackers are mostly organised together to fulfil certain objective. The reason may be to fulfil their political bias, fundamentalism, etc. It should be noted that the NASA as well as the Microsoft sites are always under attack by the hackers.

(3) Professional Hackers:-

These kinds of hackers are always motivated by monetary considerations. They are mostly employed to hack the site of the rivals and get reliable and valuable information. They may also be employed to crack the system of the employer basically as a measure to make it safer by detecting the loopholes.

Widespread computerization has resulted in business organizations storing all their information in electronic form. Rival organizations employ hackers to steal industrial secrets and other information that could be advantageous to them. The enticement to use professional hackers for industrial espionage also stems from the fact that physical presence required to gain access to important documents is rendered needless, if hacking can reclaim those.

(4) Discontented employees:-

This group includes those people who have been either sacked by their employer or are dissatisfied with their employer. In order to retaliate, they normally hack the system of their employee. One can hardly believe how malicious displeased employees can become. Till now they had the option of going on strike against their bosses. Now, with the increasing independence on computers and the automation of processes, it is easier for disgruntled employees to do more harm to their employers by committing computer related crimes, which can bring entire systems down.

Courtesy:- Legal Point Foundation