Like I understand maybe wanting to get information maybe from like big government sources or something, but why do these viruses also target random people?
What is there to gain from screwing up a random person’s software?
Like is it just to be petty or are they gathering data??
In: 2
> What is there to gain
People don’t always need material gain to motivate them.
Some people are insecure and want to show the world their hacking skills. Some people just like to sow chaos and destruction, don’t care about destroying other peoples’ things, and will do it if they think they won’t get caught.
> a random person’s software
In 2023 “you” as an ordinary person likely have a number of things that Eve, a criminal who has access to your computer, would find valuable or useful:
– You have a credit card number; Eve can use it to buy flat-screen TV’s or other valuable goods that are easy to re-sell for cash.
– You have a social security number; Eve can use it to take out a loan, buy real estate, set up a bank account, or apply for a job.
– You have online banking; Eve can log into your bank account and tell your bank to send her your money.
– You have a bank account number; Eve can use that number to make fake checks or request a funds transfer from your account.
– You have files on your computer that are important or irreplaceable to you; Eve can encrypt those files and demand payment in Bitcoin.
– You have an email account; if Eve gets into your email account, she can click on your bank’s “Reset password” link, respond to the email, and now she has access to your bank account as well.
– You have a computer with an Internet connection; Eve can use it to host illegal websites, send spam emails, or route her illegal activities through your computer.
– You are one of many ordinary people. Eve can use a large fleet of ordinary peoples’ computers to “DDOS” (distributed denial of service), overwhelm a website’s computers, for extortion or just for fun.
> What is there to gain
People don’t always need material gain to motivate them.
Some people are insecure and want to show the world their hacking skills. Some people just like to sow chaos and destruction, don’t care about destroying other peoples’ things, and will do it if they think they won’t get caught.
> a random person’s software
In 2023 “you” as an ordinary person likely have a number of things that Eve, a criminal who has access to your computer, would find valuable or useful:
– You have a credit card number; Eve can use it to buy flat-screen TV’s or other valuable goods that are easy to re-sell for cash.
– You have a social security number; Eve can use it to take out a loan, buy real estate, set up a bank account, or apply for a job.
– You have online banking; Eve can log into your bank account and tell your bank to send her your money.
– You have a bank account number; Eve can use that number to make fake checks or request a funds transfer from your account.
– You have files on your computer that are important or irreplaceable to you; Eve can encrypt those files and demand payment in Bitcoin.
– You have an email account; if Eve gets into your email account, she can click on your bank’s “Reset password” link, respond to the email, and now she has access to your bank account as well.
– You have a computer with an Internet connection; Eve can use it to host illegal websites, send spam emails, or route her illegal activities through your computer.
– You are one of many ordinary people. Eve can use a large fleet of ordinary peoples’ computers to “DDOS” (distributed denial of service), overwhelm a website’s computers, for extortion or just for fun.
> What is there to gain
People don’t always need material gain to motivate them.
Some people are insecure and want to show the world their hacking skills. Some people just like to sow chaos and destruction, don’t care about destroying other peoples’ things, and will do it if they think they won’t get caught.
> a random person’s software
In 2023 “you” as an ordinary person likely have a number of things that Eve, a criminal who has access to your computer, would find valuable or useful:
– You have a credit card number; Eve can use it to buy flat-screen TV’s or other valuable goods that are easy to re-sell for cash.
– You have a social security number; Eve can use it to take out a loan, buy real estate, set up a bank account, or apply for a job.
– You have online banking; Eve can log into your bank account and tell your bank to send her your money.
– You have a bank account number; Eve can use that number to make fake checks or request a funds transfer from your account.
– You have files on your computer that are important or irreplaceable to you; Eve can encrypt those files and demand payment in Bitcoin.
– You have an email account; if Eve gets into your email account, she can click on your bank’s “Reset password” link, respond to the email, and now she has access to your bank account as well.
– You have a computer with an Internet connection; Eve can use it to host illegal websites, send spam emails, or route her illegal activities through your computer.
– You are one of many ordinary people. Eve can use a large fleet of ordinary peoples’ computers to “DDOS” (distributed denial of service), overwhelm a website’s computers, for extortion or just for fun.
As some people have mentioned, there can be financial motivation, but some people just like to watch the world burn. In some cases, it is the digital equivalent of a random act of vandalism. This is probably less the motivation now than, say, back in the early 90s when internet based commerce was less of a thing.
As some people have mentioned, there can be financial motivation, but some people just like to watch the world burn. In some cases, it is the digital equivalent of a random act of vandalism. This is probably less the motivation now than, say, back in the early 90s when internet based commerce was less of a thing.
As some people have mentioned, there can be financial motivation, but some people just like to watch the world burn. In some cases, it is the digital equivalent of a random act of vandalism. This is probably less the motivation now than, say, back in the early 90s when internet based commerce was less of a thing.
Many reasons, mostly related to profit
Some viruses open web pages in the background and click on ads so the website owner gets paid.
Some viruses inject affiliate links when you visit a site so the virus owner gets paid a commission on each sale.
Some virus owners use infected machines to launch DDOS attacks which others pay them to do.
Some viruses steal usernames and passwords which the virus owner can use or sell.
Then you have ransomware which is self explanatory.
Many reasons, mostly related to profit
Some viruses open web pages in the background and click on ads so the website owner gets paid.
Some viruses inject affiliate links when you visit a site so the virus owner gets paid a commission on each sale.
Some virus owners use infected machines to launch DDOS attacks which others pay them to do.
Some viruses steal usernames and passwords which the virus owner can use or sell.
Then you have ransomware which is self explanatory.
Many reasons, mostly related to profit
Some viruses open web pages in the background and click on ads so the website owner gets paid.
Some viruses inject affiliate links when you visit a site so the virus owner gets paid a commission on each sale.
Some virus owners use infected machines to launch DDOS attacks which others pay them to do.
Some viruses steal usernames and passwords which the virus owner can use or sell.
Then you have ransomware which is self explanatory.
It’s largely an unfortunate coincidence created by the nature of computing technology.
Computers and computer viruses are similar in many ways to their biological counterparts. One human’s body is basically the same as any other: we all have lungs, a heart, kidneys, a brain, and so forth. A biological virus that affects one person’s body stands a good chance of being able to infect another person’s body in the same way.
Similarly, every computer has (roughly) the same design: a processor, a video card, RAM, a network interface, and a data-storage system. It’s difficult and time-consuming to tailor a computer virus to affect *only* the target system, so most virus programmers don’t bother.
It’s not necessarily an *intentional* attack on randomly-chosen systems; it’s just that a virus doesn’t always distinguish between ‘valid’ and ‘invalid’ targets.
Latest Answers