Do civilians get hacked even if they don't do anything harmful?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, someone from Russia and Colombia have been trying to log into my Snapchat and Microsoft accounts recently, do you have any idea on why this might be the vcase? Thank you very much.

[Foreveralonevirgin]

It's most likely some perverted guy you know using a VPN that is showing his location as Russia trying to hack your account. A hacker from Russia, a cartel, a criminal organization, or an intelligence agency around the world has no interest in a civilian. They are trying to hack someone relevant; they don't know about you.

Only big teach companies that sell your personal information or a low-level hacker who wants to hack your bank account (not a social media profiles because they only want to steal your money) want to hack you. A professional hacker is not going to waste his time hacking some no named persons snapchat that is usually someone that you know that is doing that.

NSO Group which is a Israel's cyber intelligence agency sells their Pegasus Malware for $650,000 for 10 Phones and an additional $500,000 to set it up. Pegasus lead to an assert for well known drug cartel member El Chapo. All they have to do is send your phone WhatsApp or a text message your phone is instantly hacked. It is very expense and no one is going to waste their money and Russian hackers are not going to waste their time and money coding complex viruses to hack some random no named persons snapchat.

They are only after powerful people. If someone attempting to hack your account and failing at it, it is not a Russian hacker that means they are from whatever country or some random guy you know or a jealous female friend.

It is the same reason you don't see MAC or Linux computers getting hacked and only see Windows getting hacked. It's because low-level hackers are after Windows computers because the user base is larger and they are amateur hackers.

[Anonymous]

There are a ton of professional hackers now (meaning they do it professional for either governments or profits). The extent of influence which can be exherted through the internert is such that there is great power in hacking peoples accounts especially if those people have been sucessful in attracting large audiences or followings.

So yes, Civilians may be hacked, but its usually unlikely unless you have a substancial wealth or influence (though it can happen just because some kid is having fun with the latest scripted exploit).

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

You don’t have to be a bad person to be hacked. A lot of scammers don’t care who you are if it means exploiting you.

[WindAtMyBack]

If someone is trying to hack your account, it's probably completely random. I had an account on a game forum get hacked. In that case they were just messing around.

How do you know they are trying to hack you? How do you know if they are doing anything harmful?

[Asker]

Because i have been recieving notifications from my gmail account and snapchat account.

[RebelinSteel]

It’s random and everyone is a target, you have a bank account, you may do online banking. If you access one account you may get lateral movement to access others. Everyone is a target.

[slatyb]

They try them all until they find one with a weak password.

[Asker]

so you’re telling me there are TEAMS working on this manually?

[slatyb]

Of course not, it's automated.

[laly520]

yes possible