Hackers: Militants or Merry Pranksters? A Content Analysis of Defaced Web Pages

Abstract

Abstract Web defacement by hackers has been an emerging topic of concern among those in the online community. Hackers with different psychological motivations may produce different types of defacement. In this study, we content analyzed 462 defaced Web sites to describe how they were changed. In addition, we used social identity theory to predict the severity of the defacement according to the presumed motivations (political vs. personal) of the hackers. About 70% of the defacements could be classified as pranks, whereas the rest had a more political motive. Moreover, the findings suggest that hackers are not the lonely, isolated individuals sometimes portrayed in the media but are members of an extensive social network who are eager to demonstrate their reasons for hacking and often leave calling cards, greetings, and taunts on Web pages. Text is the preferred means of defacement. Those sites hacked by individuals with a political motivation contained more aggressive expressions and greater use of various communication channels than those sites that were hit by people whose hacking was primarily for fun or self-aggrandizement.