Ins and outs of a hacker's life is as dull as office work
Many do it for fun, some think it is right and others want cash, but all are looking to break in
Hackers range from children playing with computers to virtual hitmen, who destroy corporate data for a fee. Armies and governments also employ hackers to collect intelligence and secure their networks.
China's efforts to collect intelligence and intellectual property seem to be greater than other countries, say cyber experts.
Hackers advertise services including the sale of virtual assets, infiltration of corporate services or the sale of victims that have been infiltrated, known in Chinese as chicken meat. It's a competitive market. One hacker named Shi Se tried to get more attention by rebranding himself as the most beautiful female hacker in China, but others were suspicious.
Computer science professor Frederick Lochovsky at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said one of the oldest and simplest ways still works in many cases: guessing passwords. He said: "A high percentage of people use passwords which are easy to guess, and there are software programs which can guess passwords based on dates of birth and other available data."
According to the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team, people can also be tricked into revealing passwords on cleverly faked websites. These look identical to the real thing except that the domain has been subtly changed. For example an l and a 1, or o and 0, can be exchanged, which is hard to spot.
There are many other ways to break into computer networks. Databases on web servers can be compromised by so-called SQL injection, and vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer can be used to run malicious codes on the computers of visitors to hijacked or booby-trapped websites. But usually some form of human error is required, and this is where social engineering comes in.
