Profiling Hackers - The Psychology of Cybercrime | Mark T. Hoffmann | TEDxHHL

What motivates hackers? What are their psychological manipulation techniques? How can we become a "human firewall'"? More than 90% of cyberattacks are due to human error. Humans are the weakest link in Cybersecurity. But something can be done.
Mark T. Hofmann is a Profiler, trained and certified in the US. He is a university lecturer for Behavioral- & Cyber Psychology and sought-after Keynote Speaker on Cybersecurity. Hofmann has met and anonymously interviewed hackers and will take you on a journey into the mind of the perpetrator. Get an inspiring insight into the psychology of cybercrime from one of the best-known profilers. He focuses on the human factor and shows how we can become a "human firewall" and detect social engineering attacks.
www.mark-thorben-hofmann.de/e...
Mark T. Hofmann is a Crime- & Intelligence Analyst (“Profiler”), trained and certified in the United States of America. He studied Business Psychology and conducted scientific interviews with psychopaths, criminals and hackers to understand the internal perspective.
Already at a young age he trained police officers in Profiling & Interrogation Techniques. Today, he is one of the leading experts in his field, a university lecturer for Behavioral- & Cyber Psychology, and an internationally sought-after Key Note Speaker.
His clients include law enforcement agencies, companies of all sizes, global players, banks, NGOs and some of the worlds top negotiators. Hofmann is known through international TV- & Streaming-Productions.
www.mark-thorben-hofmann.de/e... This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@cooltidbits]

"With everything we do, we show something of who we are." Yes absolutely I love it when people understand this and have also educated themselves on the psychology of what those actions ACTUALLY mean instead of just guessing.

[@rebeccadcarl]

True, lots of people projecting their own trauma onto the way a person behaves

[@williammathews1648]

"I fooled you while explaining how you have been fooled" is a pretty tough pill to swallow

[@judgekevin6935]

It's genuinely frustrating to hear that the majority of hackers are young, well educated, men from well off backgrounds and yes it's easy to come to the conclusion that they're doing it for thrills.

[@pagetderosier5267]

It's fascinating to learn that cybercriminals often work in organized, company-like structures, not just a kid in a hoodie sitting in front of a laptop.

[@emmashubert]

I always thought hackers were just in it for the money, but this presentation made me think differently. The thrill-seeking aspect and desire to challenge the system definitely adds another layer to their motives.

[@rachelliying2171]

The most frustrating is that victims can only suffer like sitting ducks while these cybercriminals get in their ways. There is no weapon for victims to defend themselves in the process except than just changing new devices.

[@phillipnzioka8615]

its because they choose their victims well, someone who cannot do anything to help themselves

[@kso35]

I work in cybersecurity. Your comment is not entirely true. Most individuals get hacked because they fall prey to phishing emails. If you fall prey to a phishing email they can get access to your credentials. Most they time, they pile these into a list to sell on the dark web. This means people need to get highly aware and knowledgeable about how to spot fake emails. Learn as much as you can about how to spot phishing emails. People don't have to just surrender and let it happen, they can proactively protect themselves by learning. Also, one should use a password manager and never use the same password for more than one account. That is critical. People have to keep all their systems up to date with the latest software updates including mobile devices.

[@susiesa8295]

that is so right! can not fight losers hiding behind their computers and who are very obsessed with me. i have changed so many damn phones and this person has managed to get in each one!! this cyberfreak is so unhinged she is outright trying to frame us with lies while she snoops on my household ! no words to describe this sob what she has done to my life!

[@uhkshuhy]

​@@susiesa8295Learn to hack

[@Daysgone_by]

​@@susiesa8295😮; What did you do to deserve that?

[@waltersiegismund]

As someone working in IT security, this talk resonates with me. It highlights the constant efforts put into upgrading and renewing our security measures to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals. It's a never-ending battle, but we are determined to protect our systems and users from potential threats.

[@vivianacorinacabarcaherrera]

The example of the art of misdirection was crazy.... It's scary to think how hackers can manipulate us while explaining how we've been hacked.

[@rosiealturo14]

It's really eye-opening to realize that cybercrime is not just a technical issue but a psychological and management problem... We need to focus on educating and empowering people to be the first line of defense against cyberattacks! Especially those who are a little older and can't necessarily spot when something is off...

[@chantalbrovic]

The motives behind hackers' actions are quite intriguing. It's surprising that despite their intelligence and education, they choose the path of crime. Perhaps the thrill of beating the system and outsmarting authorities is what drives them.

[@winnipooh3212]

I'm only two minutes into this talk and I'm so into it already. The things he says about decisions, actions and language revealing who people are is super interesting to me

[@averisalon]

ikr!! it's so interesting!! but also reminds me of why i am so paranoid about my pw and stuff :|

[@iamsamfemia]

I appreciate the emphasis on human error as the weakest link in cybersecurity... It's a reminder that even the most secure systems can be compromised if individuals are manipulated. We all need to be responsible for our actions online and understand there are consequences for them in the real world

[@annacichocka7734]

Mark you are a person right up my alley. Where do I find friends like this?

[@tommyruk]

Cybercrime is an unfortunate reality of our interconnected world. I appreciate the way this talk shows the importance of education, caution, and proactive security measures. Remember, it's better to be safe than sorry

[@stanforeman3951]

Profiling hackers can reveal so much about their motives and psychology. It's interesting to see how their language choices can provide clues about their origin and personality.

[@Alexe829]

This man is one of the best in profession.

[@iamtheunusualsuspect]

As a self-proclaimed cybersecurity ninja, I thought I knew it all. But this presentation humbled me. The world of cybercrime is like an ever-changing maze. Time to sharpen my katana and level up my firewall skills

[@easyrider9366]

The analysis of language and behavior in profiling hackers is truly fascinating. It's amazing how something as simple as spelling a word differently can provide insights into someone's background and origin

[@thirzel]

as long as hackers do not know about ChatGPT. 🙂

[@EvelinaNinudottir]

That part about women being such good spies paritally due to sexism is so interesting. I've wondered why so many social engineers are women. One woman told of her career and said she often got away with causing a scene or being really reserved due to sexist stereotypes about women being 'hysterical' or shy and innocent.

[@amagodatfortnite]

I was totally hooked from the moment Mark described the picture of a hacker being in a blaq hoodie.

[@randipowers]

Mark you are spot on about there being a sense of urgency to response to hacker's messages. That's one of the give aways to look out for.

[@kamilanotthevip]

I'm a teacher and I can't tell you how helpful I found this talk... It sheds light on the evolving nature of cybercrime, which helps me better educate my students about online safety and the importance of practicing secure online behavior. It's an eye-opening resource that I'll integrate into my curriculum

[@gazioktay441]

The analysis of language to profile hackers is intriguing. It's amazing how small details like spelling can provide insights into their identity.

[@phillipnzioka8615]

its a wonderful speech. i feel inspired

[@burda2809]

Hofmann is a fake! He hasn't psychological skills , was never employed at german police. He bought titles to think being an expert of a criminalist. Nothing ! Germany has real experts in profiling ! Axel Horn and he has skills from FBI. Alex Petermann is a real policeman with such skills. Lydia Beneke is a psychologist..

[@randomlabs1784]

I don't think that's quite the reaction he was expecting kkkk

[@isabelledanska]

Phishing emails have become increasingly sophisticated, especially the way they play on our fears and the way they emulate an urgency to take immediate action. We all need to be cautious and double-check before clicking any suspicious links.

[@raulascaso]

It's important to remember that cybercrime not only affects the victim, but also the perpetrator. Profiling hackers can help identify potential offenders early on and steer them towards more positive and legal pursuits.

[@charlesaddington]

Thank you for this very informative and much needed presentation Mr. Hoffmann, quite a few of us need to be doing better at protecting ourselves.

[@asherPreynolds]

Wow I was genuinely shocked by the picture at the 4:20 mark. Not what I was expecting at all.

[@maristo3967]

Super interesting, I could listen for hours!

[@burda2809]

Hofmann is a fake! He hasn't psychological skills , was never employed at german police. He bought titles to think being an expert of a criminalist. Nothing ! Germany has real experts in profiling ! Axel Horn and he has skills from FBI. Alex Petermann is a real policeman with such skills. Lydia Beneke is a psychologist.

[@lutschlatsch]

If only somebody told him that the P in psychology is silent I would 100 percent agree :)

[@burda2809]

@@lutschlatsch Hofmann is a fake, like I wrote!

[@evanmosk]

The hacker profile statistics were surprising. The fact that the majority are young, intelligent, and well-educated raises questions about why they choose cybercrime over legal avenues. It's a complex issue.

[@tomdashwood9578]

It's a really interesting point that he makes about how it doesn't matter how good the door is. I seriously always thought hacking was just done through coding and not the people themselves being manipulated.

[@micdaskel3313]

I dare say we will see an entire generation that is capable of this and will use it to even the playing field.

[@mygiftisme]

I've been hacked 4 times, once a Trojan on my PC, twice on my credit card and another time on social media. So frustrating.

[@billconconi]

right, me too, thanks for sending me this...

[@phillipnorris3rd]

me too!

[@MarkTHofmann]

Hopefully this helps to prevent the 5th attack.

[@kathy-ward]

Wow the part about being able to manipulate someone into giving out their password is super interesting. Makes me think about when people would do those posts saying "your p0rn star name is your first pet and the first street you lived on." and people would happily post what theirs were not realizing those are the most common security questions when resetting a password!

[@desaiaish1843]

Good Information

[@andrenotagiant2752]

Man I'm so glad I clicked on this haha so much interesting stuff being explained and honestly I had no idea about a lot of it.

[@knockitdownagain]

This talk has me really worried about my Nan. She's just starting to get involved in the digital world and I doubt she's aware of the risks of cybercrime. Guess I'll be sharing this with her and trying to educate them a little bit! 😅

[@daphnefish]

As the saying goes, 'amateurs hack systems, professionals hack people.' It's a reminder that cybersecurity is not just a technical issue, but also a human and management problem.

[@NoWay64]

Wonderful english, after two minutes I didn't even realize anymore it wasn't german and I understood everything. Very interesting topic and informations

[@burda2809]

Hofmann is a fake! He hasn't psychological skills , was never employed at german police. He bought titles to think being an expert of a criminalist. Nothing ! Germany has real experts in profiling ! Axel Horn and he has skills from FBI. Alex Petermann is a real policeman with such skills. Lydia Beneke is a psychologist..

[@1edty]

I must be so hard to do this dudes job and not think of those people as just the lowest

[@margaretstrom]

I read an article about one of these businesses and how it was structured in an actual office building and the guy being interviewed talked about the different people he had scammed....but he also talked about an older woman who he has a friendship with now and they send each other birthday cards.... wild world out there.

[@lisa-lio]

The cost of cybercrime to businesses is enormous, both in terms of financial losses and damage to reputation. Profiling hackers is an important step in developing effective cybersecurity strategies to protect business assets

[@NoisyDusty]

The sympathy principle is a clever manipulation tactic employed by hackers. Exploiting our trust and natural inclination to help others makes us vulnerable to their schemes. It's a reminder to be cautious even in seemingly innocent situations

[@TheRubenZepeda]

Wow, cybercrime is the real-life version of 'The Matrix.' I can almost see Neo dodging phishing emails and using his antivirus kung fu. Time to upgrade my digital sunglasses 😂

[@eric-tran]

The sympathy principle used by hackers is an interesting psychological tactic. Exploiting our trust and likability is a clever way to gain access to our sensitive information. We must be cautious and skeptical of unexpected sympathy

[@GianlucaP81]

very interesting

[@rebeccadcarl]

Honestly everyone over the age of 30 should watch this, _particularly_ the stuff he gets to around the 9:22 mark

[@claire-mortimer]

I feel like this talk is going to have me questioning every email I click and pretending I'm living in a digital spy thriller!

[@xoxo_karrie_xoxo]

Makes me a little more scared of cyber crime to be honest!

[@liamperry1476]

"Human-hacking" is a frightening term to me. Do you also have sociopaths on that list? Because anyone looking to exploit a persons vulnerabilities must surely be lacking in some fundamental empathy.

[@kahlodiego5299]

Its extra special when its your family.

[@Cookwvy0]

Brother definitely I feel you

[@danielj5266]

It can be my family, and it may be others pretending to be my family via AI.

[@siarajardine]

I remember seeing the movie "hackers" and thinking how cool they all were because they were doing stuff that brought down huge corporations but in reality most hackers just want to mess up everyday regular people.

[@Lulu-99]

I like the concept of a human firewall. We really are the weakest point of security 😂

[@happyamandaryan]

The ones that always make me laugh are the text messages saying I have unpaid tolls and my car will lose it's registration... I don't even have a licence!!!

[@g8m8]

I can relate to the fact that hackers want the challenge of "beating the system" and being smarter than the FBI. With high intelligence and big egos makes sense.

[@Cookwvy0]

I'm being cyberstalked by some hackers. Oddly enough their my sisters friends and she hacks too me specifically. They leave behind too many digital footprints though

[@elisabetefiaschi2188]

in brazil it's not crime cyber crimes, you can enter in another person personal informations and do whatever you like because it's not crime, it's a good place for hacker to do perpetration testing and invade other people personal information, it happened with me, police office or government don't worry about this there.

[@andreshedberg]

So not hard to believe that humans are the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain

[@annacichocka7734]

3:12 🙂

[@linasuchodolskyte]

There are several youtube videos showing hacking call centres in India showing how they operate - unbelievable the audacity.

[@happyamandaryan]

yes there's also a great episode of the podcast Reply All about this!

[@jackiehathway]

Some of this stuff is pretty smart when you get to it, such a shame the people coming up with this stuff would rather scam people than try to help them

[@happybarker]

One quick way to spot a potential hacker is by their spelling and sentence construction. When English isn't your first language you can make mistakes.

[@veneramusic2153SoundLoveTV]

💙

[@sohamachrekar8779]

Amazing .... Yess I'm Indian and our call centre are shits, they are shaming name of my Nation ......

[@IdowuAkinde]

♥

[@KCastarrossi]

and that was a walkout

[@nothx3299]

It's alarming to learn that human error is the cause of over 90% of cyberattacks and security breaches. We need to better educate and train people to be more vigilant and aware of cybersecurity risks

[@annacichocka7734]

Hacker: I analyze people. Me: Me too son of a bi&% 😙👊

[@DLSSelfGamer]

😮😮

[@babulbabul6900]

Bangladesh

[@kylehill4437]

Uhhh console can definitely green text

[@thelamrirachid]

I foolishly responded to a message from what I thought was the Microsoft Service Centre and soon realised it was a scam.

[@babulbabul6900]

I can I can not...

[@user-bh8ex8md5p]

Can cybercrime arrest tgs dubai hackers in my devices who is psychology affecting my whole life since 6 yrs

[@thejohntitor]

The bit about the call centres in foreign countries really makes me upset. Like do these people know what they're doing? Do they not care because they just think all westerners are rich?

[@asherPreynolds]

Yeah it's pretty shocking isn't it?

[@IamLegoMan]

Cybercrime: where hackers are the modern-day pirates, and the treasure they seek is your personal data. Ahoy, matey! Be prepared to defend your virtual booty with firewalls and an abundance of wit.

[@adairamacdonald]

I can't help but think about when Anonymous was a thing and everyone really thought they would hack all the banks and reset everyone's debt to zero. I was in my early 20's and really thought it would happen 😅

[@babulbabul6900]

But I am not properly well and hope to repect follow cyber gudelines...

[@CuriouslyWatching]

There's a very big difference between scammers & hackers Scammers aren't really respected, as much as hackers are in the cybercrime world

[@amithinnocent7579]

Ok when I watched the video 8 months ago, I became better.. really better

[@PrinceKoopa]

Great presentation but I was hoping this would teach me how to think like a hacker, not tell me what hackers do. 😥

[@annacichocka7734]

So it's safe to say that hackers are actually people full of Hate Who appear smart but in actuality they're not because if they were smart they will be doing something better with their lives

[@RudiHeinze]

bad eID

[@babulbabul6900]

...

[@annacichocka7734]

Hackers : Losers who got rejected by google & silicon Valley 6:14

[@joanmccants7088]

I NEVER trust

[@myadanco]

Interesting take away "Amateurs hack systems, professionals hack people".

[@annacichocka7734]

Thank you to youtube for not censoring the truth

[@lauralegault]

I wonder if all those people in the center's around 4:47 mark know that they're doing cyber crime? Like if they were recruited and had a job interview and all of that sort of process and just never told what they're actually doing?

[@user-um9sl1kj6u]

See:-/

[@user-bh8ex8md5p]

havker in my phone drinkimg my co2 24 hrs 365 days monitoring me

[@TheMisterSpok]

Yeah, right. "Former intelligence officer". I bet he's former Gestapo or Stasi.

[@Alexashalse]

And they are Indian

[@babulbabul6900]

xxxxX

[@lornabalanag]

I'm sorry but those examples of spelling behavior lol I can not 🙈🙈

[@gazioktay441]

Hahaha I know right? Love how he prefaced that third spelling 😂

[@kso35]

Coming from someone who works in cybersecurity. This man was wrong about so many things. Wow.

[@burda2809]

Hofmann is a fake! He hasn't psychological skills , was never employed at german police. He bought titles to think being an expert of a criminalist. Nothing ! Germany has real experts in profiling ! Axel Horn and he has skills from FBI. Alex Petermann is a real policeman with such skills. Lydia Beneke is a psychologist..

[@DerMichael]

Care to elaborate on one of them to make your comment credible?

[@burda2809]

@@DerMichael If your comment was adressed to me, I let you know that it doesn't bother me who believes my explanation or not! Hofmann is a german man and believe or not but in my State we can check this Hofmann and his missing educations..

[@DerMichael]

@@burda2809 Actually, your other comment doesn't even show up for me.

[@burda2809]

@@DerMichael My comment today: @DerMichael If your comment was adressed to me, I let you know that it doesn't bother me who believes my explanation or not! Hofmann is a german man and believe or not but in my State we can check this Hofmann and his missing educations.

[@RudiHeinze]

ßia-'sd

[@thomasmthomson]

Very poignant explanation of the illusion within an illusion.

[@g00gle-]

Was the audience weird or is it just me ?

[@kso35]

You could have used an image of just a regular Joe Blow at his PC which is most cyber criminals, but instead you used a picture of an office full of individuals of Indian culture and/or descent. You used blanket statements, and said things absolutely not true. When you speak like that, your information is NOT CREDIBLE. It is biased. They need to fire you and hire someone else. Good lord.