Security News > 2020 > May > How one hacktivist became a full-fledged cybercriminal
Sometimes hackers are given more leeway based on why they hack.
In a blog post published Thursday, Check Point detailed the exploits of a hacker self-dubbed "VandaTheGod," describing how this person turned from hacktivist to cybercriminal before being identified and reported to law enforcement.
In the hacking business since 2013, VandaTheGod started by defacing government websites in a variety of countries, including Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Thailand, Vietnam, and New Zealand.
At one point this person turned the hackings into a game by boasting that the goal was to hack a total of 5,000 websites.
As public reports and news detailed VandaTheGod's exploits, the hacker seemed to relish the attention, even uploading some of the media videos to the VandaTheGod YouTube channel.