why do hackers hack?

[jschmidt]

i had a site hacked by the infamous tunisian hackers recently. It looks like the only file modified was the front page, telling the world it was hacked. Why do they do this? Are they looking for credit card info or are they just trying to put a notch in their belts saying they hacked someone?

[Force Flow]

Because they can. They probably get a kick out of it.

[sezgin]

In your situation, that doesn't look like a hack for credit card numbers or something else than ego boost!

[stikkybubble]

there's a load of turkish hackers who put up political stuff, but apart from that I think "because they can" is the answer. Some of them are benign and consider themselves to be doing you a favour by leaving an obvious calling card like that so you know you need to improve security. Others don't give a damn and are just having fun. But there are much more sinister people out there who would be careful not to tip you off and are after something (using your server to host illegal porn or stealing credit card info, or just using it as a stepping stone to cover their tracks as they do something nefarious elsewhere).

Not been hacked yet, but someone tried as soon as I posted some stuff on various websites that included a code example for learning purposes. They found some link in the script - but they couldn't get in to the admin area. I couldn't be bothered to delete the link (yet). This was recent and it did give me the creeps and showed that people WILL try. Even if it's just because they are bored.

[Jake Arkinstall]

Hacking isn't illegal. Hacking is merely looking for (and usually implementing) ways to use something in the way that it wasn't designed for, or maybe even using it in a way it was designed to prevent.

Cracking, on the other hand, seems to be what you're on about. That's the illegal side - bypassing security measures to give you the abilities to do more than you're supposed to do.

I'd say people hack out of curiosity. They usually crack for monetary, political, spamming or reputation advantages. Some possibly crack websites out of curiosity, some to test a system. Some were just never loved as a child.

Often cracking is done by someone who isn't necessarily malicious, but wants to inform the owner of the website that someone who is malicious could do some damage.

Personally I believe that unless you know how hackers and crackers operate, and their reasons behind it, you can't possibly protect yourself against them. And for that reason, many programmers need know common methods of hacking so that they can stop it happening.

I suppose the ultimate reason behind why people crack is that you didn't do enough to prevent them doing it. In their eyes they have as much right to attack your website as you have to defend it. Not morally accurate, but you can't ring up the attacker and start questioning their morals - all you can do is prevent them from doing anything they can't.

[brandondrury]

We all have needs. Air, water, food, security, STATUS, to feel loved, etc. The American Indians would often steal horses from one another to prove their bravery or prowess. The big guys eventually became chief in many cases.

Brandon

[yesica]

The hackers hack depends on what they're trying to get done.
Hacking specified bad reputation that people seize up to figure out that hacking can help avoid crimes.

[racheltom]

just for fun they make it a target n try to get that. they actually got no other purpose in life other than giving trouble to others