Hackers are a nuisance and should be put down -Don't give a fig for damage caused or effect on security manager's career. No care given to company-many out to make money by selling information and indulging in industrial espionage. They are into mobile phone cloning, virus writing, pornography, credit card Ii-aud, manipulation of PBXs all to make money No redeeming features, socially inadequate, lonely sad people. Reason is power, makes them feel important, boast on BBSs around Europe. Some suggest they are interested in freedom of information-nonsense. They are criminals and the danger they pose to economic well being should not be underestimated.
Cases fail due to lack of appreciation of situation by judges, poor presentation by prosecutors, and smoke signals and rubbish spoken by defence solicitors. Only deterrent they understand is confiscation of equipment and a term of imprisonment.
The interviewee defined computer crime as: any crime that requires computing knowledge for it's commissioning. This includes mobile phone cloning.
Merseyside Police 12 December 1996
Hackers are now into, software piracy, credit card frauds, satellite decoders, call selling operations. Over the past ten years they have moved from attacking systems out of curiosity to PBX and voicemail manipulation. Objective for most is free calls to the Internet or to mates. Some make money via call selling, calls to prs, industrial espionage, blackmail, selling information. Some involved in distribution of software, games, pornography, viruses.
Majority have no malicious intent, and do not even consider problems for victim or legal position. May be addicted and can't stop.