Types of Attackers

Now that we have classified the types of attack, we now take a look at the types of our opponents.

Types of Attackers

This section very briefly describes the types of attackers who are out there on the Internet. There are many ways to categorize these attackers; we can't really do justice to the many variants of attackers we've seen over the years, and any quick summary of this kind necessarily presents a rather stereotyped view. Nevertheless, this summary may be useful in distinguishing the main categories of attackers.

All attackers share certain characteristics. They don't want to be caught, so they try to conceal themselves. If they gain access to your system, they will certainly attempt to preserve that access, if possible, by building in extra ways to get access (and they hope you won't notice these access routes even if you find the attackers themselves). Most of them have some contact with other people who have the same kinds of interests ("the underground" is not hard to find), and most will share the information they get from attacking your system.

 Joyriders

Joyriders are bored people looking for amusement. They break in because they think you might have interesting data, or because it would be amusing to use your computers, or because they have nothing better to do. They might be out to learn about the kind of computer you have or about the data you have. They're curious, but not actively malicious; however, they often damage the system through ignorance or in trying to cover their tracks. Joyriders are particularly attracted to well-known sites and uncommon computers. 

Vandals

Vandals are out to do damage, either because they get their kicks from destroying things, or because they don't like you. When one gets to you, you'll know it.

Vandals are a big problem if you're somebody that the Internet underground might think of as The Enemy (for example, the phone company or the government) or if you tend to annoy people who have computers and time (for example, you're a university with failing students, or a computer company with annoyed customers, or you have an aggressively commercial presence on the Internet). You can also become a target simply by being large and visible; if you put a big white wall up in certain neighborhoods, people will put graffiti on it no matter how they feel about you. 

Fortunately, vandals are fairly rare. People don't like them, even people in the underground who have nothing against breaking into computers in general. Vandals also tend to inspire people to go to great lengths to find them and stop them. Unlike more mundane intruders, vandals have short but splashy careers. Most of them also go for straightforward destruction, which is unpleasant but is relatively easily detected and repaired. In most circumstances, deleting your data, or even ruining your computer equipment, is not the worst thing somebody could do to you, but it is what vandals do. (Actually, introducing subtle but significant changes in programs or financial data would be much harder to detect and fix.)