Hackers are often portrayed as cybercriminals lurking in the shadows, but the reality is more complex. From malicious attackers to ethical security experts, hackers come in different forms. This article explains the three main types of hackers and how their motivations and activities differ.

Hackers are often portrayed as cybercriminals lurking in the shadows, but the reality is more complex. From malicious attackers to ethical security experts, hackers come in different forms. This article explains the three main types of hackers and how their motivations and activities differ.

Hackers are often portrayed as cybercriminals lurking in the shadows, but the reality is more complex. From malicious attackers to ethical security experts, hackers come in different forms. This article explains the three main types of hackers and how their motivations and activities differ.

Introduction

When we hear about cyber-crime, we often imagine far-off threat actors setting complex traps to mess with huge organizations.

Introduction

If a device still turns on and does what you need it to do, many people don’t look further. We keep using older laptops, phones, tablets, or software simply because nothing appears to be wrong.

It’s Monday morning.
Coffee in hand. Laptop open. You’re ready to get moving.

Then your elbow clips the mug.

Time slows down just long enough for you to watch coffee spill across the keyboard and disappear into places coffee should never go.

It’s March.

Your accountant is buried. Your bookkeeper is scrambling. Deadlines are looming. Emails are flying faster than anyone can keep up.

Everyone’s head is down, just trying to get through the month.

This isn’t news to you.

But it isn’t news to hackers either.

It’s March.

Green everywhere.
Shamrocks in store windows.
Leprechauns guarding pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Spring break gets a bad reputation.

College kids. Questionable decisions. Stories that start with “we thought it was a good idea at the time…”

But adults make plenty of spring break mistakes, too. They’re just quieter. And they usually involve technology.

We often think of universities as places for research, discovery, and education — not targets for cyberattacks. In recent years, however, colleges and academic institutions have become some of the most frequently breached organizations.

This rise in academic cyberattacks matters, not just to the students and people who work there, but also to anyone with a connection to the affected institution.