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Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring

krebsonsecurity.com

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Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring

#21

Post by trade_unionist »

FillardMillmore wrote: post #18
bowmessage wrote: post #5

All of the "cybercrime" stock photos now just look like regular white-hats working in a post-COVID environment :)

I've noticed it before but never thought too deeply about it. Where did this 'stereotypical hacker' image stem from anyway? Computer 'nerds' are often cast with pressed button-up shirts, pocket protectors, and thick glasses. But if they are a 'bad nerd', they suddenly don a mysterious hoodie that covers their face as they work in a cave-like room like some kind of new-age techno-troglodyte?

How else would you tell the difference, some kind of evil gotee?

Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring

#22

Post by cmehdy »

FillardMillmore wrote: post #18
bowmessage wrote: post #5

All of the "cybercrime" stock photos now just look like regular white-hats working in a post-COVID environment :)

I've noticed it before but never thought too deeply about it. Where did this 'stereotypical hacker' image stem from anyway? Computer 'nerds' are often cast with pressed button-up shirts, pocket protectors, and thick glasses. But if they are a 'bad nerd', they suddenly don a mysterious hoodie that covers their face as they work in a cave-like room like some kind of new-age techno-troglodyte?

The hoodie is already used to typecast criminals, drug dealers in rough neighborhoods, etc. It's also a sign of relative youth (<40 years old). Dark places are an uninventive way to say they're doing something "bad". What's funny is that while they are depicted as being smart/dangerous, they're also depicted as being white and male, which is also a usual sterotype and conveniently forgets the proportion of extremely knowledgeable people of various origins and genders out there.

Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring

#23

Post by Thriptic »

Judgmentality wrote: post #6
olliej wrote: post #3

Isn’t the vast majority of “cyber crime” just normal white collar crime (eg fraud) done over the internet? Do people really think it’s exciting?

You don't think crime is more exciting than a desk job?

It's largely arguing that most of the cybercrime jobs basically are desk jobs. It principally says two things.

First, that most jobs in cybercrime involve selling services to end users and whenever you sell services you not only have to provide customer support which sucks but your customers will have reliability and usability expectations which become annoying to fulfill when you have to maintain your infrastructure in a clandestine way.

Second, most of the positions in criminal orgs involve low skill bitch work because if you had the skills to do the real programming / security / ops work required to do more creative cybercrime then you could easily go get a legitimate job with great pay or go do your own thing.

Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring

#24

Post by colechristensen »

FillardMillmore wrote: post #18
bowmessage wrote: post #5

All of the "cybercrime" stock photos now just look like regular white-hats working in a post-COVID environment :)

I've noticed it before but never thought too deeply about it. Where did this 'stereotypical hacker' image stem from anyway? Computer 'nerds' are often cast with pressed button-up shirts, pocket protectors, and thick glasses. But if they are a 'bad nerd', they suddenly don a mysterious hoodie that covers their face as they work in a cave-like room like some kind of new-age techno-troglodyte?

Images and ideas have entered the mythos over the years, I doubt there is a "source" but more of a collective myth which has grown and evolved with some sources in reality and some of reality fashioning themselves after the myth.

But also, I have just known lots of computer people that liked to work on their interests late into the night in a dark room.

You might say Cyberpunk styles are a source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk

Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring

#25

Post by trade_unionist »

The main problem with cyber crime for profit is you have to get the money at some point. So no matter what at some point you have to either trust someone (bad idea) or have the cahones to walk into a bank and withdraw the cash. Even then you to explain how you got the money if it's over like $10,000 or people start asking questions.

Yeah dumb people will focus on hacking but once you think it through you see there isn't a good exit strategy.

Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring

#26

Post by anonymousDan »

trade_unionist wrote: post #25

The main problem with cyber crime for profit is you have to get the money at some point. So no matter what at some point you have to either trust someone (bad idea) or have the cahones to walk into a bank and withdraw the cash. Even then you to explain how you got the money if it's over like $10,000 or people start asking questions. Yeah dumb people will focus on hacking but once you think it through you see there is…

Bitcoin?

Re: Career Choice Tip: Cybercrime Is Mostly Boring

#27

Post by trade_unionist »

anonymousDan wrote: post #26
trade_unionist wrote: post #25

The main problem with cyber crime for profit is you have to get the money at some point. So no matter what at some point you have to either trust someone (bad idea) or have the cahones to walk into a bank and withdraw the cash. Even then you to explain how you got the money if it's over like $10,000 or people start asking questions. Yeah dumb people will focus on hacking but once you think it through you see there is…

Bitcoin?

Can be traced. Monero is another option but I've heard it can be traced too. I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it. But in either case you still have to convert it into cash at some point.
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