Why Do Hackers Hack Websites??

The term "Hacking" means finding out weaknesses in a computer system or network, and exploiting them. A computer hacker (or "cracker" - a criminal hacker) is someone who employs various techniques to discover weaknesses in the computer and exploits them. The reasons why Hackers hack can be motivated by different agendas, such as malicious intent, for the challenge, or for profit. Whatever their motivations, they are a chronic pain the butt and website owners must be constantly on guard or run the risk of their sites going down, and experience loss to their business and/or business reputation.

To some, hacking is just an amusing game or challenge just to prove how smart you are. A trait that most hackers share is a strong sense of curiosity. They pride themselves on their ability create new programs. They brag to their social circle about any high-profile system that they've hacked. You can employ more security measures to protect your computer system e.g. Firewalls, anti-spyware, anti-viral etc. , but these type of hackers just find it more of a challenge to defeat these security defenses and your computer crashing is just another trophy on their hacker shelf. Yes these types of hackers are annoying but the ones you really need to worry about are the hackers who hack for profit - your criminal hackers.

The following are other troublesome reasons why hackers hack:

1. They want to use your computer. They will use your computer like an internet relay chat so they can discuss openly things they do not want to discuss on their own servers. They store illicit material (pornography, pirated music, pirated software etc.) on your computer so this illegal activity does not lead to their own computer.
2. To steal services, valuable files or your personal credentials in order to access your accounts or the accounts of your website visitors. They use this data to gain access to billing, merchant accounts and third party systems. If you store this type of information in your database, it could mean a terrible lawsuit for damages to others.
3. Personal reasons like spying on friends, family, coworkers or for revenge.
4. For profit. They employ hacking techniques to set-up fake ecommerce sites to access credit card details; gain entry to servers that contain credit card details and other forms of credit card fraud.

The first step that your criminal hackers undertake is to find known or common weakness in the various website platforms. Popular platforms that are regularly under attack are WordPress, Joomla, Magento, osCommerce, and Zen Cart. These platforms are popular with hackers because they are popular with masses who are attracted to their open-source nature and the fact that they are free. Hackers will obviously be able to attack and reach more computer systems the more popular the platform.

Be smart and proactive with regards to your website security. Find a reputable web development company / web-master that can properly install sound website security software. A good security software will lock down all your files, regularly scan and alert you to any suspicious activities going down on your web site and slam the door in the face of hackers.