In response to Hacking - do the pros now rule?.

A professional is someone who can make money at what they do.

Like it or lump it, thats what a professional is. And yes, hackers HAVE turned pro. Worse, hackers have started teaming up with other forms of internet miscreants to establish more complex schems to prey on the consomer sector.

Are corporate and governmental systems targeted? Absolutely. However the monetary potential for a commercial systems crack is relatielly small... in itself (ignoring DDoS as this isnt really a "hack" ). Get your hands on some identity info and.. voila, you can now seek out a group of ID thieves or some mass spammer, sell them the info and you have made money ont eh hack without ever getting your hands dirty directly in use of the stolen information.

This sort of crack is becoming harder and harder to do BUT The black hats will always find some way to do it though. One of the white hats who works for our company has a mantra: "If i cant get into it, i havent thought about it long enough." Yeah, we have all heard this sort of "traditional security alarmism" before but its true, the issue here is not whether hacking is possible but rather whether or not these hackers have a different focus and an established methodology which would define them as a "Professional."

Black Hats are going professional in more than one way. Revenue streams, age/experience/education, alliances with other groups, each of these halmarks of an actual business organization.

Skript kiddies? Recognition. Professionals? Money.

And this is COMPLETELY ignoring the state-sponsored training in cyber-terrorism and so forth in some countries. In some areas, hacking has become an instrument of policy... a WHOLE NEW entry into the black hat arena.