"In some cases, hacktivists also launch distributed denial of service [DDoS] attacks in order to bring a webpage down to prove their point."

For the organisation targeted, a DDoS attack would cause a disruption in daily operations and potential financial losses, due to a loss of confidence in the business.

According to IBM's Burns, the attacks can leave a business exposed with sensitive information out in the public domain.

"From an individual perspective, these attacks have a way of manipulating information to make specific individuals look or appear to look bad, when this might not be the case," he says.