BotNet News

From ransomware attacks that shut down entire business operations to data hacks impacting billions of user accounts, cybercrimes have become mainstream headlines. Whether it’s an opportunity to make money from exploiting vulnerabilities or the chance to gain a competitive advantage, there are countless reasons why hackers attack.

Historically, the programmer subculture of hackers (also known as “hackers”) saw secondary circumvention of security mechanisms as legitimate if done to get practical barriers out of the way for doing actual work. They often view their activities as an expression of playful cleverness, and indeed, some hackers use hacking as a form of art.

The term hacking is most commonly associated with malicious cybercriminals, but the truth is that every industry and organization needs ethical hackers to prevent cybersecurity breaches. This is why companies and even government agencies have created bug bounty programs that pay hackers for finding vulnerabilities in their systems.

In order to prevent hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in their systems, organizations should ensure they regularly install software patches and updates. They should also back up data to a secure location and train employees to recognize phishing emails and other common methods of social engineering.

Additionally, hackers may target specific assets in a network such as servers or devices. For example, an experienced hacker may target a company’s cloud administrator account in order to exfiltrate data or launch Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that cripple the system for days at a time.