Did you know that people are trying to hack into your website all these while?
Really? But, why?
Motives vary – there are indeed plenty of people who think that destroying things is fun. However, the main motive is a predictable one: profit. There’s money to be made.
Hacking your website because there is money to be made.
This at first seems surprising. You would probably be thinking “where’s the money to be made on my website? After all, I don’t make any money from it myself – how can they?”
Three main ways…
1) “Free” and Anonymity
It’s not your website that the hacker is eyeing on – they want the web server that it’s running on. This can be used to hide the hacker’s identity, whilst he uses a server that is not linked to his name, to perform other tasks
2) Spam, spam, spam spam…
An easiest way of earning money through spam is to insert links leading to web pages that sell things. These links may not even be searchable or visible for people to click on. Your server can be used to churn out these spam emails – again, for free. Since emails are easy to send, often by the time it is spotted, the attacker has got his pay-off.
3) Serving up viruses
A hacked website can be modified to serve up viruses to its visitors – catching vulnerable visitors whose own computer security is not up to date. Viruses then allow the visitor’s computer to be used for the same purposes.
For example, hackers may make money through advertising spaces by injecting new adverts into every web page you visit. Another common virus is creating log clicks and key-presses on the computer, and capture valuable passwords (e.g. online banking passwords).
Therefore, insecure websites are economically valuable. Leave behind the thought that “my website’s not interesting to hackers, so I’m fine.” The costs of breaking in are less than the revenues they can make – so hacking is a profitable activity.
