Fake news creators are a lot like hackers

Fake news creators are a lot like computer hackers.

To understand the comparison, we need to look at hackers’ motives. The problem here is that hackers — like fake news creators — have many motives.

Plus, there are many types of hackers. In a post to the blog Infosec, a site devoted to information security, Penny Hoelscher wrote that hackers’ motives “vary widely, from the terrorist hacker wanting to save the planet to the script kiddie wanting to destroy their ex-spouse.”

If you’re not familiar with the term “script kiddies,” they’re simply hacker-wannabes, “usually low-skilled, but they can be a menace to individuals they target to harass or whose lives they try to infiltrate,” Hoelscher wrote.

The motives we give hackers and the categories in which they’re placed mirror many of those of fake news producers.

Read more at https://www.vindy.com/life/lifestyles/2020/09/fake-news-creators-are-a-lot-like-hackers/ (may encounter paywall).