There are probably as many different specific motives behind attacks upon information systems as there are attackers, but we can break the most common underlying attacker motivations into a few broad categories as follows:
Recreation and/or Personal Gratification
For the Thrill of it - Believe it or not there are those who get their jollies by hacking into networks purely for the “fun and adrenalin pumping thrill” of it. The thrill of the chase has often been shown to be the most alluring of motivations. This has been attributed by many social and behavioral analysts to originate from our deeply rooted subconscious drives to “hunt”.
Primitive Instincts - The advent of agriculture on a massive scale has; in the majority of Western societies, removed the direct “life or death” importance embodied by a successful hunt. As a society we no longer actively participate or depend heavily on traditional hunter/gatherer or subsistence farming lifestyles. Through attacking information systems many are able to fill this perceived gap in their everyday life experiences.
Self-Importance - Then there are those who instigate attacks against information systems to prove their “technical prowess” either to themselves and/or their friends and associates. This class of attacker genuinely believes that their actions will somehow raise their standing in the community. While this result may be true of attacks at the micro-level (the attacker and/or small group of the attacker's peers), we tend to find that society in general will for the greater part collectively think otherwise.
The Group Effect - Never underestimate the power of peer group pressure or the compulsive behaviors that can result both directly and indirectly (collateral damage) from it. On top of this; the “group effect” is just as relevant and applicable to both individual styled attacks and group attacks.
Group Dynamics - The fact that many of these collectives/groups of attackers are such loosely bound collectives makes defending against them all the more difficult.
Group Effect Gratification - The specific gratification that many perpetrators of information systems attacks desire can often be as simple as believing that; in some manner or way, successful attack exploits will result in the elevation of their (the attacker) perceived level of esteem within the group collective. It could also be a means of proving their “worth” in the eyes of those they perceive to be their peers.
Sociopathic Tendencies - The motivation behind this group of information systems attackers can be deeply rooted, long seated, anti-establishment or genuinely deep antisocial tendencies. Many times have; the initiatives and outcomes instigated and driven out of sociopathic intentions and behaviors, so nearly resulted in chaos/anarchy. Collateral damage is most common when an attacker's sociopathic tendencies take center stage.
Counterculture - Underground and counterculture type motivations are also prime factors contributing to information system attacks. It's all about some sort of “the in thing” among a group generally priding themselves in their “alternative” lifestyles and views.
Notoriety - Never forget those driven to personal gratification through notoriety. Getting one's 15 minutes of fame has often proven too hard to resist and driven purely by this desire an attacker will perpetrate many attacks.
Sometimes hearing of the consequences of their actions is not anywhere enough. The maximum publicity to be gained from becoming a “hacking legend” anonymously simply won't do for some people. They need to be caught in order to truly become the center of the universe.
Those motivated to commit persistent multiple attacks in order to gain notoriety are one of the more dangerous types of attackers since crashing or denying access to a large number of prominent web sites brings the highest publicity and hence the greatest notoriety. This group also exhibits a very strong underlying compulsion to do as much malicious damage as possible for the same reasons as stated above.
Spam - Spammers are a group where notoriety and fiscal gain meet in the cyber war. Being the world's most prolific spammer has an egocentric side to it that most people quite simply just don't understand.
Forbidden Fruit - We should not forget the “forbidden fruit” factor either. More or less similar to the “dangling the carrot in front of the donkey” to get it moving. The need to reach that which is just out of reach is so deeply in-grained into some people that they cave-in to temptation.
Curiosity - Curiosity can be such a compelling core human motivation that it also merits mention here. I think all of us have at some time or other wondered “I wonder what it's like on the other side of the fence”.
In the case of membership privileges websites this can be manifest in users lacking the appropriate credentials and access permissions and privileges attempting to gain entry into the restricted registered member only zone. “The grass is always greener on the other side”.
