To begin I will start with Hacking, what is hacking. Hacking is basically using your computer to "Hack" your way into another. They use programs called scanners which randomly dials numbers any generating tones or carriers are recorded. These numbers are looked at by hackers and then used again, when the hacker calls up the number and gets on he's presented with a logon prompt, this is where the hacking really begins, the hacker tries to bypass this anyway he knows how to and tries to gain access to the system. Why do they do it, well lets go to a book and see "Avid young computer hackers in their preteens and teens are frequently involved in computer crimes that take the form of trespassin

The word virus can be very disheartening, especially when computers are involved. A virus is composed of instructions hidden inside a program. These instructions copy themselves to other programs, and the cycle continues spreading. Fortunately, help is available; antivirus software is available to anyone. "Viruses first appeared in 1985. Then, they were largely created in university laboratories by mostly wayward geniuses keen to pit their programming skills against each other. Since then, errant programmers began to create newer and more destructive viruses targeted at specific user groups." (Yang, 1998) A computer virus can be as "evil as it sounds, snaking its way into personal computers, posing an occasional annoyance or a serious threat to all data." (Miastkowski, 1998) Symptoms can range from unpleasant to fatal. Computer viruses spread from program to program and computer to computer, "much as biological viruses spread within individual...members of a society." (Chess, 1997) Diskettes were the "primary carriers of viruses in the 1980s." ("Computer," 1997) Today, they are e-mail attachments, file transfers and infected software downloads or uploads. Networks can even spread viruses to large numbers of connected PCs rapidly. (Yang, 1998) No one working on a [personal computer] is risk free; more viruses are being spread today than ever before, but more help is being developed as well. Special software is now in stores that will help to prevent any major disasters that viruses can cause. (Miastkowski, 1998) Antivirus software is a program that protects against viruses. It scans all files on the hard disk, diskettes, CD ROM, and memory to locate viruses. ("Computer," 1997) The life cycle of a virus is rather complicated; it begins when a user runs an infected program. The computer copies the program from the disk into RAM, random access memory, where it can be performed. The viral code begins to run, and the virus copies itself into a part of RAM that is separate from the program. This allows the pesky virus to continue to spread while another program is running, until it is finished and passes back into the infected program. "When the user runs a different program, the dormant virus begins to run again. It inserts a copy...into the...uninfected software so that the cycle...can repeat." (Chess, 1997) There are also other computer pests such as "worms" that effect networks, but viruses are the most common. (Yang, 1998) Years of research have allowed scientists to find ways to detect and destroy viruses. (Chess, 1997) "Building on decades of research by mathematical epidemiologists, [researchers] have obtained some understanding of the factors that govern how quickly viruses spread." (Yegulalp, 1997) Many researchers feel that they owe much to "pattern-matching techniques developed by computational biologists." (Chess, 1997) This has helped them to develop antivirus software from the defenses used by the human body to fight off pathogens. According to an independent survey by the National Computer Security Association, the infection rate for personal computers in North America has more than tripled in the last year. (McDonald, 1997) "In the 1990s, the virus problem has become an epidemic. New forms, including the shape-changing polymorphic virus, elusive stealth strains, and the very common macro viruses are making their appearance with alarming frequency." (Yang, 1998) The macro viruses are big problems; they infect very popular programs such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. This type of virus can effect daily work much easier than any other virus. (Miastkowski, 1998) "Almost any [antivirus] package does a nice job of finding and eradicating most viruses, including macro viruses. The key is to keep the products' library of signatures--binary code that helps identify viruses--current." (Yegulalp, 1997) That is one area where these packages differ most. Some of the major brands of antivirus software include Norton AntiV

Some common words found in the essay are:
Software Piracy, Card Fraud/Virus, Internet McDonald, Norton AntiVirus, CD ROM, Manual Phreak, Earlier PC-cillin, Microsoft Excel, Bulletin Boards, Crime It's, antivirus software, yang 1998, yegulalp 1997, norton antivirus, chess 1997, computer crime, miastkowski 1998, personal computers, computer viruses, norton antivirus 40, viruses spread, electronic toll fraud, 1998 macro viruses, miastkowski 1998 antivirus, rescue disk set,
Approximate Word count = 3067
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)