{"id":220796,"date":"2020-03-10T23:40:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T06:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/?p=220796"},"modified":"2026-02-22T21:42:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T05:42:58","slug":"7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals","title":{"rendered":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals"},"content":{"rendered":"

7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals<\/p>\n

Remember when cyber criminals were computer geeks trying to crash computers from their mothers\u2019 basements? \u00a0Well they\u2019ve evolved.\u00a0Cyber attacks and malware have become an increasingly prevalent threat to businesses in the last few years, and the effects they have on businesses can be devastating. Keeping critical IT assets safe from cyber criminals<\/a> is difficult, but it can be done.<\/p>\n

Malware has come a long way since the first virus 25 years ago<\/a>, and so have the people who create it. \u00a0Getting inside the mind of a cyber criminal can be tough these days, especially when the criminals are such a diverse group.\u00a0 So who are these bad guys? And what do they look like?<\/p>\n

Here are seven common types of cyber criminals. Recognize any?<\/p>\n

1) Script kiddies<\/strong>: A wannabe hacker. Someone who wants to be a hacker (or thinks they are) but lacks any serious technical expertise. They are usually only able to attack very weakly secured systems.<\/p>\n

2) Scammers: <\/strong>Your email inbox<\/a> is probably full of their work. Discount pharmaceuticals, time-shares, personal ads from available women in Russia\u2026sound familiar?<\/p>\n

3) Hacker groups:<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>Usually work anonymously and create tools for hacking. They often hack computers for no criminal reason and are sometimes even hired by companies wanting to test their security.<\/p>\n

4) Phishers: <\/strong>Gotten an email recently claiming your bank account is about to expire? Don\u2019t fall for these jerks. They want your personal information<\/a> and, most likely, your identity, by directing you to a phony websites.<\/p>\n

5) Political\/religious\/commercial groups:<\/strong> Tend to not be interested in financial gain. These guys develop malware for political ends. If you think this group is harmless, think Stuxnet<\/a>. The Stuxnet worm which attacked Iran\u2019s Atomic Program of Its Nuclear Facilities was believed to be created by a foreign government.<\/p>\n

6) Insiders<\/strong>: They may only be 20% of the threat, but they produce 80% of the damage. These attackers are considered to be the highest risk. To make matters worse, as the name suggests, they often reside within an organization.<\/p>\n

7) Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Agents:<\/em><\/strong> This group is responsible for highly targeted attacks carried out by extremely organized state-sponsored groups. Their technical skills are deep and they have access to vast computing resources.<\/p>\n

So now you know who these bad guys are. As G.I. Joe would agree, \u201cNow you know, and knowing is half the battle!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals<\/p>\n

Remember when cyber criminals were computer geeks trying to crash computers from their mothers\u2019 basements? \u00a0Well they\u2019ve evolved.\u00a0Cyber attacks and malware have become an increasingly prevalent threat to businesses in the last few years, and the effects they have on businesses can be devastating. Keeping critical IT assets safe from cyber criminals<\/a> is difficult, but it can be done.<\/p>\n

Malware has come a long way since the first virus 25 years ago<\/a>, and so have the people who create it. \u00a0Getting inside the mind of a cyber criminal can be tough these days, especially when the criminals are such a diverse group.\u00a0 So who are these bad guys? And what do they look like?<\/p>\n

Here are seven common types of cyber criminals. Recognize any?<\/p>\n

1) Script kiddies<\/strong>: A wannabe hacker. Someone who wants to be a hacker (or thinks they are) but lacks any serious technical expertise. They are usually only able to attack very weakly secured systems.<\/p>\n

2) Scammers: <\/strong>Your email inbox<\/a> is probably full of their work. Discount pharmaceuticals, time-shares, personal ads from available women in Russia\u2026sound familiar?<\/p>\n

3) Hacker groups:<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>Usually work anonymously and create tools for hacking. They often hack computers for no criminal reason and are sometimes even hired by companies wanting to test their security.<\/p>\n

4) Phishers: <\/strong>Gotten an email recently claiming your bank account is about to expire? Don\u2019t fall for these jerks. They want your personal information<\/a> and, <\/p>\n

Continue Reading…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3380,3392],"tags":[8444,8445],"class_list":["post-220796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-3","category-security-en-uk","tag-cyber-crime-en-uk","tag-cyber-security-en-uk"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals - Faronics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals Remember when cyber criminals were computer geeks trying to crash computers from their mothers\u2019 basements? \u00a0Well\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals Remember when cyber criminals were computer geeks trying to crash computers from their mothers\u2019 basements? \u00a0Well\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faronics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/faronics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-11T06:40:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-23T05:42:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mehdi Mebarki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@faronics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@faronics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mehdi Mebarki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mehdi Mebarki\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e942ce4f20d072495cccce84ac9ae69f\"},\"headline\":\"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-11T06:40:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T05:42:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Cyber Crime\",\"Cyber Security\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"Security\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-UK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\",\"name\":\"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals - Faronics\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-11T06:40:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T05:42:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals Remember when cyber criminals were computer geeks trying to crash computers from their mothers\u2019 basements? \u00a0Well\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-UK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/news\\\/blog\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\\\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\\\/\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\",\"name\":\"Faronics\",\"description\":\"Simplifying Computer Management\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-UK\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#organization\",\"name\":\"Faronics\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-UK\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/assets\\\/footer-faronics-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/assets\\\/footer-faronics-logo.png\",\"width\":155,\"height\":44,\"caption\":\"Faronics\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/faronics\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/faronics\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\\\/en-uk#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e942ce4f20d072495cccce84ac9ae69f\",\"name\":\"Mehdi Mebarki\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-UK\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b1d927f7cfc76c965429a86c6c66e4031d5e7e80a5fb780fccb29f994c62765d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b1d927f7cfc76c965429a86c6c66e4031d5e7e80a5fb780fccb29f994c62765d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b1d927f7cfc76c965429a86c6c66e4031d5e7e80a5fb780fccb29f994c62765d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mehdi Mebarki\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.faronics.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals - Faronics","description":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals Remember when cyber criminals were computer geeks trying to crash computers from their mothers\u2019 basements? \u00a0Well","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals","og_description":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals Remember when cyber criminals were computer geeks trying to crash computers from their mothers\u2019 basements? \u00a0Well","og_url":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals","og_site_name":"Faronics","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/faronics","article_published_time":"2020-03-11T06:40:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-23T05:42:58+00:00","author":"Mehdi Mebarki","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@faronics","twitter_site":"@faronics","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mehdi Mebarki","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals"},"author":{"name":"Mehdi Mebarki","@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#\/schema\/person\/e942ce4f20d072495cccce84ac9ae69f"},"headline":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals","datePublished":"2020-03-11T06:40:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:42:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals"},"wordCount":402,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#organization"},"keywords":["Cyber Crime","Cyber Security"],"articleSection":["Blog","Security"],"inLanguage":"en-UK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals","url":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals","name":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals - Faronics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#website"},"datePublished":"2020-03-11T06:40:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:42:58+00:00","description":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals Remember when cyber criminals were computer geeks trying to crash computers from their mothers\u2019 basements? \u00a0Well","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-UK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/news\/blog\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"7 Types of Cyber Crimes and Criminals","item":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/7-types-of-cyber-crimes-and-criminals\/"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#website","url":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk","name":"Faronics","description":"Simplifying Computer Management","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-UK"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#organization","name":"Faronics","url":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-UK","@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/assets\/footer-faronics-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/assets\/footer-faronics-logo.png","width":155,"height":44,"caption":"Faronics"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/faronics","https:\/\/x.com\/faronics"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk#\/schema\/person\/e942ce4f20d072495cccce84ac9ae69f","name":"Mehdi Mebarki","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-UK","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1d927f7cfc76c965429a86c6c66e4031d5e7e80a5fb780fccb29f994c62765d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1d927f7cfc76c965429a86c6c66e4031d5e7e80a5fb780fccb29f994c62765d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1d927f7cfc76c965429a86c6c66e4031d5e7e80a5fb780fccb29f994c62765d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mehdi Mebarki"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.faronics.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276087,"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220796\/revisions\/276087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.faronics.com\/en-uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}