If you are on the internet for some time, you must understand the meaning of hacking by now. Every single day hackers are busy cracking the security of websites and they are often successful. If you are running a small company, you may ask why someone will hack your website. But what if this is not about you. The reasons for hacking a website can be very interesting at times.
Top Reasons for Hacking a Website
There are many reasons for hacking a website and some of them do not even make sense. Therefore it is not about your company. Check the list below to understand why hackers hack a website or a software application.
Ethical Hacking
First of all, you can associate this with legal ways of hacking a website. By default most websites are vulnerable and can be hacked. Ethical hackers try to find security loopholes in a website. The idea is to fix the issues before they become critical.
Money or Financial Gain
Money is among the primary reasons for hacking a website. First of all, hackers block your website or upload some unwanted files. Later they demand money to remove these files and unblock the website. Consider this as one of the good ways of making money online.
Hackers blackmail companies
Sometimes, hacking happens with the objective to blackmail a company or an institution. Money is not always the first demand. At times the hacker asks for favors against restoring website.
Revenge also comes under hacking reasons
Never underestimate the power of revenge. It works as a great motivation for hacking. First of all, you can cause financial pain and secondly you can damage the public image. For example you hire a sales executive. You find out that the employee submitted a fake experience letter. As a result you fire the employee on an unhappy note. It is possible that this employee goes out and leaks company secrets to a hacker. The next step is to try to bring the company down by denting the business or image that company has built over time.
National Security
Government websites are hacked to steal important documents and other related information. For the hacker country this may be an exercise to strengthen national security. For the one hacked it is a concern or a threat to national security. The reality is, this happens and will keep on happening. Companies are working day and night to strengthen website security.
Hacking by Antivirus companies
This is not to prove but to understand how the system works. If there is no need, there will be no supply. Due to this, there exist companies who create viruses and malware. Once the computers get infected they start pitching for software applications to clean systems. All antivirus companies exist because of viruses. If there is no demand, there is no need to run a billion dollar industry.
Political Statements can also be one of the reasons for hacking a website
Hacking a website of a political party will simply give hackers access to the database of party workers. These workers can be influenced. Hackers may not get major financial gains but for making a political statement it is good enough. Not just that, public statements can be released via websites and at the time of elections it can be a win or lose situation.