[CaptechPhD]

When it comes to traditional forms of crime, research has established a link between trauma in childhood and later committing crimes. While some hackers who have publicized their stories have talked about past trauma, it is not consistently a theme. Part of the difficulty is that different people have different perceptions of what is traumatic.

I am wondering about what role trauma plays in leading to hacking. In your experience do hackers have a history of trauma? (Whether that be experiencing parents divorce, addiction in the family, bullying . . . etc.). Is hacking an escape?

[Jamika]

I dontt think there is any relation between two, may be in some cases yes, but this cant be a general rule

[an4l 1st]

I believe most of people have some sort of trauma from childhood... some are real and some are relative drama...

the point is, everybody's pain is the worst, even if one's pain is hitting the hammer on the thumb and another's is having his arm ripped off.

the maximum pain someone's ever felt is the worst pain ever...

what I mean is that everybody is going to tell that had already a bad experience in life...
the same way someone will tell that had already a good experience in life...

these 2 experiences if compared to someone else's experience, will be equivalent in terms of relative brain cognition of that experience...

meaning: (my worst experience).intensity_felt == (your worst experience).intensity_felt

even if (my worst experience) != (your worst experience)

that is how the brain works...
criminals are criminals.

there is no real reason for that other than, people are what they are.
we are born with some genetic traits and during childhood some of us will have some experiences that might highlight or suppress those traits...

in adult life the plastic brain will become an elastic brain and nothing will ever change...

so if your brain is genetically wired in a way that you don't care too much for boundaries and limits and your childhood highlighted your "breaking the rules" behavior and didn't suppressed it. you will grow up into a criminal.

on the other hand, if your brain is wired as a passive cattle. you won't become a criminal even if you had the necessary incentives in your childhood.

traumas are not the source of criminal behavior per se.

some people are just born assholes.. and the bottom line is that those people often end up on the top.

you know, not everybody was born to be an alpha male/female.

[Hackers]

you know, not everybody was born to be an alpha male/female.

I think there's plenty of alphas and plenty of simps on HackForums to show that personality type doesn't always correlate.
That said, I know which side the hacker community leans towards :)

[BiNBo]

I'd say the link to trauma could be established but correlation is not necessarily causation. You could just as easily make the argument that anything that could create a complex need for control and or power could lead to the same result. The simplest way would be to say that by understanding the inner workings of systems and how to expose, maneuver, and exploit them could lead to a satisfaction rooted in the control perceived by the "hacker" in question. However, without properly defining the term "hacker" it's hard to say, the same could be argued for individuals who possess the knowledge but apply it differently, such as blue teamers (SOC analysts and such). Of course, you could also make the argument that all of that could easily be created by a childhood trauma, but also just as easily as traumas later in life. It could easily be someone who possesses the knowledge to become a blackhat hacker, and then some sort of adulthood trauma leads to a sense of justice against the inherent unfairness of society. This triggering them to take the knowledge they have and to apply it differently than before, potentially maliciously. Long story short, I think that it's far too deep of a topic to really condense it down into, "he was traumatized as a child, so that's why he's a hacker."

[CaptechPhD]

I'd say the link to trauma could be established but correlation is not necessarily causation. You could just as easily make the argument that anything that could create a complex need for control and or power could lead to the same result. The simplest way would be to say that by understanding the inner workings of systems and how to expose, maneuver, and exploit them could lead to a satisfaction rooted in the control perceived by the "hacker" in question. However, without properly defining the term "hacker" it's hard to say, the same could be argued for individuals who possess the knowledge but apply it differently, such as blue teamers (SOC analysts and such). Of course, you could also make the argument that all of that could easily be created by a childhood trauma, but also just as easily as traumas later in life. It could easily be someone who possesses the knowledge to become a blackhat hacker, and then some sort of adulthood trauma leads to a sense of justice against the inherent unfairness of society. This triggering them to take the knowledge they have and to apply it differently than before, potentially maliciously. Long story short, I think that it's far too deep of a topic to really condense it down into, "he was traumatized as a child, so that's why he's a hacker."

100% agree. You have very eloquently expressed the fact that there are so many factors to consider and correlations do not equal causation. Human behaviour is so dynamic that it defies simplistic explanation. Behaviour is motivated by different factors at different times. Based on your response, I believe I have encountered a fellow academic!

---

I think there's plenty of alphas and plenty of simps on HackForums to show that personality type doesn't always correlate.
That said, I know which side the hacker community leans towards :)

Interesting. So in your opinion, are hackers generally alphas, want to be alphas, or non-alphas?

---

I believe most of people have some sort of trauma from childhood... some are real and some are relative drama...

the point is, everybody's pain is the worst, even if one's pain is hitting the hammer on the thumb and another's is having his arm ripped off.

the maximum pain someone's ever felt is the worst pain ever...

what I mean is that everybody is going to tell that had already a bad experience in life...
the same way someone will tell that had already a good experience in life...

these 2 experiences if compared to someone else's experience, will be equivalent in terms of relative brain cognition of that experience...

meaning: (my worst experience).intensity_felt == (your worst experience).intensity_felt

even if (my worst experience) != (your worst experience)

that is how the brain works...
criminals are criminals.

there is no real reason for that other than, people are what they are.
we are born with some genetic traits and during childhood some of us will have some experiences that might highlight or suppress those traits...

in adult life the plastic brain will become an elastic brain and nothing will ever change...

so if your brain is genetically wired in a way that you don't care too much for boundaries and limits and your childhood highlighted your "breaking the rules" behavior and didn't suppressed it. you will grow up into a criminal.

on the other hand, if your brain is wired as a passive cattle. you won't become a criminal even if you had the necessary incentives in your childhood.

traumas are not the source of criminal behavior per se.

some people are just born assholes.. and the bottom line is that those people often end up on the top.

you know, not everybody was born to be an alpha male/female.

Thanks for your reply. You make many interesting points. The experience of trauma is relative. The reaction or response to trauma differs by person as well. I do not think there is a direct link between trauma and crime of any type. The link is more indirect. Whether someone commits a crime is influenced by many different sociological, psychological, environmental etc., factors. While the academic in me doesn't love to agree that some people are just born assholes, there may be certain biological factors that make this so. In most cases, I think the path to criminality is more complex.

---

I dontt think there is any relation between two, may be in some cases yes, but this cant be a general rule

I agree.

[Monero-chan]

I personally don’t think there is but I could be wrong.

[Popular]

I personally don’t think there is but I could be wrong.

Same here, yeah - I don't think so.

[Hackers]

Same here, yeah - I don't think so.

do you think there could be correlations between hacking & anything else, even if not traumatic or even remotely negative?

[Popular]

do you think there could be correlations between hacking & anything else, even if not traumatic or even remotely negative?

Depression maybe?

Like hacked someones bank, took their money
Now theyre depressed? Maybe ha

[voltkey1]

Content deleted to prevent possible harm to our members. -Staff
Is that you? lol

[ᗷᑌᑎᑕ0ᗪᕮ ⩜⃝☭✯]

That is a very fascinating question. I don’t believe it is for most people as I know a lot of white hat and gray hat, penetration testers, who are often well adjusted individuals, but when I look on the side of cybercrime and other types of hacking, for example, I find that often there is a correlation to mental illness Don’t quote me, but it just seems to be an anecdotal trend