Forwarded from: Robert G. Ferrell <rferrellat_private> At 01:17 AM 12/28/01 -0600, you wrote: > "Cyber criminals are like idiot Hansel and Gretels, scattering > electronic breadcrumbs that lead straight to them," said retired > New York City detective Pete Angonasta. "You just don't see this > sort of behavior in other criminals. I've never seen a burglar > leaving cute notes crediting the crime to himself. And I've never > run across a burglar who puts up a self-promotional website or > goes into a chat room to discuss the night's activities." There's nothing odd about this discrepancy, at least from a criminal psychology point of view. Burglars are motivated primarily by a desire to gain material wealth, either directly by stealing negotiable currency or indirectly by fencing their stolen goods. They don't need to brag about their crimes in order to profit by them. Virus writers, on the other hand, seldom see any profit from their actions other than reports in the media of the effect of their efforts. Except in the exceedingly rare case of someone who creates a virus for the express purpose of extorting corporations or governments for material gain, virus creators are usually psychologically (and often physically) adolescent, socially inept individuals who get an enormous adrenalin rush and self-importance boost from releasing malicious code and watching it wreak havoc. It is hardly surprising that such individuals are prone to bragging about their accomplishments in chat rooms. They're not professional criminals, but rather naughty school kids. What's the point of bringing the Internet to its knees (in their inflated world view) when no one knows you did it? Remember that these sorts of actions are often associated with an attempt to gain acceptance into or increase one's status within what is often called the 'electronic underground.' Bragging is pretty much de rigeur for this environment. RGF Robert G. Ferrell rferrellat_private http://rferrell.home.texas.net/rgflit.html - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Dec 29 2001 - 01:07:37 PST