We are often asked what motivates cyberattacks — why attackers do what they do. Sometimes it’s obvious: If a data breach yields credit and debit card details that are then sold on the Dark Web, profit is quite clearly the motive. Then again, an obvious motivation such as money can be a smokescreen hiding a different, deeper motivation for an attack.

What’s the Motivation for Attackers?

The single greatest motivator for cyberattacks in today’s world is, arguably, profit. It comes as no surprise that cybercrime is estimated to become a $2.1 trillion problem by 2019 — and there’s no shortage of attackers who want a share of the pie.

Methods of attack that lead to monetary gain abound. Cybercriminals use financial malware such as Carbanak, Dyre, Dridex, Rovnix and Shifu to steal funds directly from victims’ bank accounts. Or they extort money from victims through ransomware such as Cryptolocker and Tesla. Another profit-motivated attack is extortion by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which has grown in popularity over the last few years.

Retailers, both online and physical, face a serious threat from profit-motivated attackers who are after user and financial transaction details. Such attacks can involve malware that targets point-of-sale (POS) systems.

It’s Not Always About Money

But profit isn’t always the motive for cybercrime. For example, a private company that develops technology for the military can be the target of industrial espionage. At risk is sensitive information that could have military, economic and political value to the attacker or to the attacker’s paying customer. In this case, attackers could be state-sponsored or a for-profit criminal group acting on behalf of a state or even corporate entity.

Organizations that run industrial control systems (ICS) — power companies, chemical companies, water systems and the like — could be the target of attackers motivated by sabotage. These cybercriminals in turn can be motivated by underlying political, patriotic or ideological beliefs.

Vanity, Revenge, Outrage and More

There are also more personal — or more vindictive — reasons to explain why attackers do what they do. Companies or individuals can be the target, and the consequences can range from annoying to downright dangerous.

Interested in emerging security threats? Read the latest IBM X-Force Research