• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
TechCybersecurity

The 4 Groups Who Invade Your Computer Network (and How to Stop Them)

Jeff John Roberts
By
Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts
Editor, Finance and Crypto
Down Arrow Button Icon
Jeff John Roberts
By
Jeff John Roberts
Jeff John Roberts
Editor, Finance and Crypto
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 18, 2016, 8:30 AM ET
Person wears a Guy Fawkes mask which today is a trademark and symbol for the online hacktivist group Anonymous. 2012.
Photograph by PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images

Everyone knows black hat hackers are a growing menace who steal data and wreak havoc on computer networks. But who are they, exactly? Popular caricatures often depict a lonely misfit in a hoodie. The reality is less abstract—though just as scary.

As it turns out, hackers fit pretty neatly into the four boxes of people described below. That’s according to cybersecurity experts from Pricewaterhouse Coopers, who used an event in New York last week to explain the four types who might attack a computer network and what they’re seeking. The event was targeted at law firms, but the advice will be useful for almost any company with online assets.

Here’s a quick overview of who might be coming for your networks, plus what you should and should not do when the hackers get in.

Meet the Hackers

Hacking and data breaches are hardly new, of course, but their attacks are becoming more sophisticated. Meanwhile, as firms store evermore data online, their choice of targets become more appealing. Here are the culprits.

Nation States

These are hackers employed by military and intelligence units of foreign governments like China. In the past, their mission resembled that of spies—snooping around for state secrets. Today, they are just as likely to go after corporations in order to steal their intellectual property, and gain an economic or technological edge.

Organized Crime

Doug Bloom, one of the PWC presenters, is no stranger to the world of finance. But even he couldn’t keep up with some of the corporate valuation models he witnessed in online “dark net” forums where criminals convene to plot cyber attacks.

According to Bloom, the hackers in these forums come together in the same way professional thieves do to plan a bank job. They form a team, select a target, methodically plot the attack and then go their separate ways after the heist. The only difference is they don’t walk off with cash and gold. Instead, the prize is confidential corporate information—everything from an insurer’s underwriting information to a pharma firm’s drug applications—that can be sold to other criminals online.

Hacktivists

These guys probably come closest to the hooded hacker of popular imagination. They’re different from the other types of hackers in that their primary motivation is political rather than financial.

Hacktivists have targeted law firms that represent controversial clients such as Guantanamo detainees and corporate firms that take certain political or social positions. The harm they inflict can come in the form of embarrassing public leaks such as what befell Sony in late 2014.

Insiders

According to PWC, insiders may represent the most widespread and dangerous type of hacker. They are people already inside the organization who decide to obtain and exploit secret information for personal gain. A recent example include lawyers in New York who used confidential client data to make money on insider training.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter

What to Do Once the Hackers Are Inside

Company executives may be tempted to build their corporate firewall higher and higher in order to keep the hackers out. But the cyber experts argued such a strategy is impractical since too many barriers will keep clients out too.

“Defense is not a technical problem, it’s a business problem,” said James Fox of PWC, who has an MBA from Wharton. “You can build a wall as high as you want, but there still has to be a way through—and the most common way is through phones and emails.”

For more on cybersecurity, watch:

A determined group of hackers, he said, will eventually get in through stealth or trickery. When they do, companies should resist the temptation to blame it all on their IT staff since any breach is most likely the fault of some other employee.

Instead, the immediate task should be to avoid alerting the hackers to the fact that the company has discovered them. The reason is that once hackers are inside, they want to stay there as long as possible—just as companies work hard to keep a client, hackers have spent resources to break into a company and are inclined to stick around in search of more information. If they know the firm is on to them, they will bolt—but in many cases not before they install some ransomware as a parting gift.

As such, it’s better to back up or sequester valuable information before the hackers can destroy it or hold it for ransom. (Oh, and companies should also know the legal steps they must take if they do find about a breach.)

Finally, smaller companies, including law firms, shouldn’t try to create elaborate security schemes on their own. A much better solution is to use large cloud computer providers like Amazon or Microsoft that are much better at securing their systems, and that are able to store sensitive information across multiple servers.

(This story was amended at 11amET to add the phrase “black hat” hackers. It has also been corrected to reflect Jim Fox, not Doug Bloom, has an MBA from Wharton. An earlier sentence in this article also erroneously portrayed Chinese hackers as insiders; that sentence has been removed)

About the Author
Jeff John Roberts
By Jeff John RobertsEditor, Finance and Crypto
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jeff John Roberts is the Finance and Crypto editor at Fortune, overseeing coverage of the blockchain and how technology is changing finance.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

murdochs
CommentaryMedia
OpenAI paid $100 million for a talk show. James Murdoch is eyeing an even bigger deal. The hot new asset class is humanity
By Lin CherryMay 17, 2026
2 minutes ago
dennis
CommentaryAI agents
Freshworks CEO: why agile enterprises are winning the AI race — and what they did differently
By Dennis WoodsideMay 17, 2026
17 minutes ago
A man with a headset sits at a desk in a call center.
EconomyAutomation
The AI boom hasn’t stopped U.S. companies from hiring cheap offshore labor, and overseas call center employment is still skyrocketing
By Sasha RogelbergMay 17, 2026
47 minutes ago
Zillow CEO doubles down on remote-work model: ‘There is talent everywhere in this country’
Workplace Cultureremote work
Zillow CEO doubles down on remote-work model: ‘There is talent everywhere in this country’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 17, 2026
50 minutes ago
Stressed job seeker
SuccessGen Z
Gen Z is right about the job hunt—it really is worse than it was for millennials, with nearly 60% of fresh-faced grads frozen out of the workforce
By Emma BurleighMay 17, 2026
57 minutes ago
A 45,000-person labor strike at Samsung’s memory chip plants could throw a wrench into the AI boom
EconomySamsung
A 45,000-person labor strike at Samsung’s memory chip plants could throw a wrench into the AI boom
By Catherina GioinoMay 17, 2026
4 hours ago

Most Popular

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
AI
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
Politics
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
15 hours ago
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
Future of Work
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
5 days ago
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
Future of Work
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
By Jacqueline MunisMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
Oil markets could be a month away from the moment of truth. Brace for a 'non-linear' price spike and panic buying, analysts warn
Energy
Oil markets could be a month away from the moment of truth. Brace for a 'non-linear' price spike and panic buying, analysts warn
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
18 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.