Others, called hacktivists, might launch these types of attacks as a form of protest against the targeted entity a secretive decentralized group of internationalist activists known as Anonymous is the most well known of such groups. Nation-state attackers are behind some of these types of attacks. These attacks are often directed at government entities but can also hit commercial entities or nonprofit organizations. They could be aiming to publicly embarrass the attacked entities or to damage the organizations' reputation. They could be taking such action as a way to get revenge for acts taken against them. Bad actors also launch attacks specifically to sow chaos, confusion, discontent, frustration or mistrust. Still other attacks aim to gain valuable corporate data, such as propriety information these types of cyber attacks are a modern, computerized form of corporate espionage.ĭisruption and revenge. Other financially motivated attacks are designed to disable the computer systems themselves, with cybercriminals locking computers so that their owners and authorized users cannot access the applications or data they need attackers then demand that the targeted organizations pay them ransoms to unlock the computer systems.
These attacks often aim to steal sensitive data, such as customer credit card numbers or employee personal information, which the cybercriminals then use to access money or goods using the victims' identities. Most cyber attacks today, especially those against commercial entities, are launched by cybercriminals for financial gain. They can have various objectives, including the following:įinancial gain. Why do cyber attacks happen?Ĭyber attacks are designed to cause damage. They're identified as nation-state attackers, and they have been accused of attacking the information technology (IT) infrastructure of other governments, as well as nongovernment entities, such as businesses, nonprofits and utilities. Government-sponsored groups of computer experts also launch cyber attacks. They can also belong to a criminal syndicate, working with other threat actors to find weaknesses or problems in the computer systems - called vulnerabilities - that can be exploited for criminal gain. Often referred to as bad actors, threat actors and hackers, they include individuals who act alone, drawing on their computer skills to design and execute malicious attacks. People who carry out cyber attacks are generally regarded as cybercriminals. Cyber attacks aim to disable, disrupt, destroy or control computer systems or to alter, block, delete, manipulate or steal the data held within these systems.Ī cyber attack can be launched from anywhere by any individual or group using one or more various attack strategies. A cyber attack is any attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computer, computing system or computer network with the intent to cause damage.