WHY DO PEOPLE CREATE COMPUTER VIRUSES?

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It takes days of constant and hard computer-nerd work to sit behind a desk and program a computer virus. So why do these people bother to do it? Typically there are three main reasons for this: First and foremost is money, second is to show off their programming skills, and the third is just that they are a big jerk. Now, being a jerk and showing off may be self-explanatory, the money aspect can be somewhat fascinating.

In this article, we cover some of the ways these people make money from computer viruses.

Theft from Your Bank Account


These virus-creating-nerds are happy to sneak in and grab your account details or credit card information. They will help themselves to any information or banking details they can. Most times, they will use credit card details to go on an online shopping spree or transfer your funds to another account and withdraw the money before it can be reversed. However, sometimes they sell the information to someone else who gets to have all the fun with those account details they took.

Use of Ransomware


There are some of these people that once they access your data, they will encrypt the data and then demand money from the victim to get access back to the data. You will be at their mercy unless you have a good backup plan in place before the attack happens. They are accommodating, though, because they give you all the information you need to pay them, plus a clear and firm deadline for payment before they delete the data permanently.

Ad Swapping


A real sneaky technique in which they make a virus that places annoying ads on websites you visit, or they place affiliate codes on pages. Hence, when you legitimately purchase something, like from Amazon, they get a share of the 'referral fee.' Most times, you won't even notice because it doesn't cost you anymore when you purchase, so no one rarely sees this type of activity.

Mining for Bitcoin


By now, you have most likely heard of Bitcoin or other digital currencies used for payment. However, did you know that you can also earn these digital currencies with your computer processing power? Yes, unfortunately, 'loaning' out the computer's processing power will be more in running costs than you will make from the mining. Of course, that is unless you are a sneaky jerk and use a virus to 'borrow' someone else's computer to do it for you.

Building Botnets


Virus creators can remotely infect computers to make them do whatever they want. Most times, this control uses multiple infected computers to target a web server and overwhelm it. Most times, they do this to blackmail the target, and sometimes it is done out of revenge. The blackmail is usually in the form of a demand, like, "pay me now of I will bring down your website during the busiest shopping day of the year."

Stealing Accounts


You can be left paying someone else's subscription to Hulu or Netflix when your subscription account is hijacked. Then, there are those jerks that take it a step further with online gaming accounts. All those digital items the gamer has spent hours collecting, like special equipment, powers, potions, etc., have real-world value to other gamer's. The virus creators can steal them from the gamer's account and sell them on a gaming black market. Yes, it's cheating and seems silly to some, but to gamers, it is a big deal that costs them money and time.

Conclusion


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3 comments
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Awesome writeup. I've considered all of them before except the Ad Swapping one. It's malicious but it's kind of genius actually haha. I never thought of that before but it makes sense they'd do that. It's kind of a sneaky, nearly harmless, way for a hacker to make some extra cash.

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Yep, nobody can say they are dumb for sure. They are wicked smart but sinister :-)

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