2018 Dr. Gordon Wicijowski SK Law Foundation Lecture: Why hackers hack
Posted: October 12, 2018 9:00 a.m.
Dr. Holt is the author of multiple books on the subject of cybercrime. His work has been funded by the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice. G.L. Kohuth
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“Though computer hacking is often discussed in popular media and news outlets, there is not much explanation given as to why individuals engage in it,” says cybercrime expert Dr. Thomas J. Holt, the featured speaker at the annual Dr. Gordon Wicijowski Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Lecture at the University of Regina on October 15. Dr. Holt will explore the complicated motivations behind two distinct groups of hackers: those who are driven by money and those who are driven by ideology.
Holt is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, where his research focuses on computer hacking, malware, and the role that technology and the internet play in facilitating all manner of crime and deviance. He is the author of multiple books on cybercrime and cybersecurity. His work has also been funded by the United States Department of Homeland Security, the (U.S.) National Institute of Justice, and the (U.S.) National Science Foundation.
Ideologically motivated hackers, he contends, acquire personal information to sell on the lucrative data sales market. By contrast, the complex motives of hackers who are driven by individual ideological beliefs, are less understood by researchers. Holt’s lecture, “Why Do Hackers Hack?” will examine the differences and commonalities between these types of hackers using various data sources, including posts from hackers and attacker groups, and discuss the challenging implications they have for both policy and law enforcement practice.
Part of the issue, Holt maintains, is that it can be hard to identify the ideology of an attacker while they’re actually engaging in a hack. In the end, however, “understanding the why of a hack afterward may not always be as important to financial institutions or industrial targets as is repairing their systems or securing them from future systems.”
The annual Dr. Gordon Wicijowski Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Lecture is supported by the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Chair in Police Studies, and each year brings a world-renowned thinker in the field of criminal justice to the University of Regina to share their expertise. All are welcome to attend.
Event: Why Do Hackers Hack?
Date: Monday, October 15, 2018
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Luther College Auditorium
Parking is free in Lot 13M.