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Hackers are hijacking thousands of PCs to spy on users, shake down online businesses, steal identities and send millions of pieces of spam. If you think your computer is safe, think again

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021401342_pf.html
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
That was an interesting read. Thanks.
 

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Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
 
It is the Wild Wild West all over again.
 

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Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
 
This is so funny (or not...). It looks like the hacker described in the article might be caught because of the article...

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29805
 

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Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
 
It's just sad.
 

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Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
 
Roland is in Oklahoma and has ~240males between the ages of 20and24, which wasn't in the article, which I found out by googling Roland 2,842.
Which ought to tell ya that either secret identities are hard to keep, or a reporter is lying.

[ February 22, 2006, 08:43 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
 

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Posted by Celaeno (Member # 8562) on :
 
Lately and without fail, I've been reading the word "hacker" as "hatracker."
 

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Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
 
The word "hacker" should only be used for programmers. The "correct" word for bad guys is cracker. Oh well. This battle was lost years ago...
 

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Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
 
A programmer is to a hacker as an accountant is to a mathematician, or as a house painter is to a muralist.
And while script kiddies and crackers are still useful descriptions, the general term for malicious programmers* is blackhats.
Which brings us back to Celaeno's "hatracker"

* Inregard to attacks on computer systems, I haven't heard of anything original&elegant enough to blame on a hacker.
 

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