hobbyist are computer enthusiasts who are generally interested in hacking things. They don’t have malicious intent and they are generally not interested with making money. If they make money, they are not investing it in other malicious activities.
hacktivists are hackers and civil rights activists who aim towards acting as counter-balance for market economy driven development. Sometimes they have malicious intent and may also be interested in making money. Money may be to fund other malicious activities.
black hat marketers are technically savvy internet marketers that make money from various affiliate programs and other schemes by exploiting various weaknesses in the digital marketing eco-system and human behaviour. They rarely have any intent other than making money without having to report to anyone. It’s not like that money would be used to fund other malicious activities.
criminals are individual or organised crime actors that see digital eco-system as the new blockbuster crime vertical. Their intent is mostly money and providing various services to their customers, including corporate espionage and Denial-of-Service attacks to take down competitor websites. Money is used exclusive to fund other malicious activities.
state-level actors (formal) actors are likely to use digital media supply chain to improve its malware distribution and management capabilities. Their intent is political and not at all related to ad fraud but only to the possibilities the infrastructure provides The money may be used to fund other malicious activities.
state-level actors (rogue) are operators that use ad fraud attacks to cause damage to enemy state’s national economy and to fund other activities. Their intent is political but also benefit greatly from low-touch income sources. The likeliness of the money being used to fund other malicious activities appears very high.
