Example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Sony_Pictures_hack
Maybe I misunderstood what a hacker can do, but why not rob someone’s credit card or bank account if they can do it to Sony?
Example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Sony_Pictures_hack
Maybe I misunderstood what a hacker can do, but why not rob someone’s credit card or bank account if they can do it to Sony?
Yeah this is like asking “Why rob a bank when you could just rob a random person on the street”
Sure you can do that, but the comparably tiny amount of money you get is not really worth the effort and risk.
Effort vs Reward vs Ability vs Inital investment
In most cases, think of this kind of thing like a legitimate business. Same concepts. I’ll grade a few scenarios based on what I have seen over the last 20 or so years. (The ratings are arbitrary and just trying to explain my point.)
Do you have the means to rent a botnet and phish a few million people for lots of credit card numbers? Can you manage that kind of data, test all those numbers and maybe end up just selling that data? Low Risk/Moderate Reward (“Selling shovels” analogy is probably a better scheme than actually renting the botnet, IMHO)
Could you setup a “call center” in India and run a scam ring like an 8-5 business? Are there enough people you can hire to do this work? That requires training, infrastructure and time. You also may need to “work with” law enforcement to ensure your scam isn’t busted by legitimate cops. Moderate Risk/Moderate Reward.
Are you part of a small group with an insane amount of skill that has the time to pull off an extortion scheme against a Fortune 500 company for a few million bucks? High risk/High reward
Those are all normal scenarios above and it’s based on profitability and initial investment. Risk/Reward is always a balance.
(Sorry. I pulled a “wHellll aKshUallY” when you said it’s not worth the time for the small targets.)