A bluffer's briefing on: hacking
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.COSTS: Equipment needed to hack, about pounds 200. Estimated annual bill to British business of computer fraud: pounds 1.1bn. Cost to the Financial Times of Mr Bedworth's hacking: pounds 24,871.
TARGETS: Bodies known to have been infiltrated by hackers: Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency; European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer; Uruguayan Army Counter-Intelligence; Oxford University; US Strategic Air Command, Colorado; the Duke of Edinburgh's computer.
DAMAGE: Popular computer viruses which have damaged systems include Michelangelo; Jerusalem; Maltese Amoeba; Frodo.
NAME DROPPING: ARCV, Association of Really Cruel Viruses; NUI, Network User Identifiers; HPVC, Hacking Phreaking Viruses Carding; FAST, Federation against Software Theft.
USEFUL PHRASES: stealth virus (one that is undetectable); promiscuous computer (one that is not fussy whose floppy discs are inserted into it); Trojan horse (lurking virus triggering destruction at later date).
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments