It seems that there are relatively few very talented hackers that can break into your systems. The vast majority of data breaches and issues are from one of two attack vectors: social engineering or script kiddies. Social engineering is hard to fight, especially in large companies where everyone doesn't know everyone. Script kiddies are more numerous since they don't need any talent and merely deploy scripts written by others to attack your systems.

Recently it seems that there have been quite a few hacker attacks on systems, often using fairly simple SQL Injection techniques, that aren't vandalism, and aren't for profit. These attacks are motivated by hackers who are offended by the companies or organizations and are standing up for customers. That might be worrisome to DBAs and data professionals since you can't hide data breaches if the attackers publicly post the data they've copied and you will certainly receive some of the blame for any breach of security.

Read the rest of "From Vandalism to Serious Crime" at SQLServerCentral.