Hackers Evolve From Pranksters Into Profiteers
from the the-greed-factor dept
Historically, most hackers (or crackers, if you must...) were mostly involved in the practice for the thrill of exploring computer systems, rather than any nefarious purposes. While some did things that were illegal, they rarely were stealing, despite what the popular press might have you believe. Those days, however, may be over, as hacking for identity theft purposes has become a valuable past time. The article makes it sound as though it's mostly individuals, but I would imagine that the worst offenders are from the organized crime world, where the ease of online identity theft must be very tempting.
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Then they would be making a huge mistake.
And then there's the pretty woman decoy, which techies would be quite gullible for.
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