how do hackers earn their money.?

Question

is it true that hackers can earn money.? if so, how would sending viruses, worms, or anything else into computers around the world give them money.?

Answer 1

There are a number of illicit ways to earn money using a computer...someone who is, by all definition, a hacker...well they can do a number of things on both sides of the law.



On the "illegal" side, you'll see identity theft as the number one way. They will get your personal information and open credit cards in your name, that kind of thing. Another way is to straight up scam people. This is done through things like rogue antivirus which hijacks the machine and promises to release it when you pay up some money.



Some hackers do the dream job of freelancing for people who need something hacked. They are the mercenaries of the internet, and people may hire them to take down a site, or to get a site back from the grips of another hacker. This is "gray hat" realm...where things are not necessarily legal, but they are not quite as immoral as the straight up black hat realm of hackers.



The white hats are the consultants. These hackers will teach a company how to secure a network the RIGHT way. Most people seem to think if you take a few classes on security, you're all set...you honestly need someone who knows how to hack something if you plan on getting it secured.



In any event, if you want to make money as a hacker, you'd better be damn good and have some connections. There is no room for the hobby hacker, or the person who visited a couple tutorial sites and thinks they are a hacker.



If you've never pointed out a new kind of vulnerability or at least a variant of an old one, you won't be cashing in on your '1337 ski11z".

Answer 2

RansomWare.

This is the easiest method.

They send you a 'Drive By' email attack, you open the email, get instantly infected without even clicking a link and realize soon after all your important files are locked in encrypted folders.

You now have 24 hrs to send $10,000 in untraceable Bit coins to an untraceable hacker or he destroys the key to your encrypted files.

Either you pay or lose big time.

Hospitals and even a police Department paid the hackers and the payment was 100% untraceable.

This is now the most perfect crime for stealing money and the hacking malware is free for anyone to download, configure and send it out to you.

For the first time in history thieves can rob you while sitying on a beach getting a tan using a 10" Laptop.

People in third world countries especially terrorist use this to make money.

The biggest threat is that you no longer have to be a computer expert to have to actually write the malicious code as you can freely download this and spread it

Answer 3

There are 3 types of hackers. White hats, black hats and gray hats. Black hats are the bad ones that send malware/viruses and hack into computers. They make money by stealing credit cards, bank info, social security numbers and other personal information and either sells it or uses it. White hat hackers are legal security technicians that break into computer systems and programs finding vulnerabilities/weaknesses. They may do it for fun or a company may offer a reward for their findings. Its better to pay someone to find weaknesses than to deal with consequences of black hat hackers finding it first. The third group is gray hats. They are a mix. They may find vulnerabilities and use them before telling the company or do things that balance on the edge of black hats.