Cybercriminals Operate Like a Business

by: Michael M. Ralph | Cybersecurity, Legal Services

Important to remember, cybercriminals operate like a business, and this is exactly how they make a living.

It's crucial to understanding this major point. They’re not just rogue hackers in basements; many are part of organized, well-funded groups that:

• Have hierarchies and roles (like developers, customer support, marketers)

• Run operations for profit (ransomware-as-a-service, phishing kits, data sales)

• Target victims strategically (using data analysis, social engineering, etc.)

• Reinvest profits to improve tools, scale operations, and avoid detection

Understanding this helps shift the mindset from seeing cybercrime as random attacks to recognizing them as deliberate, profit-driven threats. Like any business, they're constantly innovating — and that makes defending against them an ongoing challenge.

Thank you for reading.

Next, Breakdown of how one of these “cybercrime businesses” typically operates?