ABSTRACT
Computer hackers seem to represent one of the smallest samples of the globe-wide population, and one of the most esoteric, since the logic of their actions is universally recognized as incomprehensible. Very few people can boast they know a hacker personally – in fact hackers resemble a sort of a secret organization. As an invisible college, they have no definite location, no central or ruling body, and almost no coordination in general. At the same time hackers have gained a reputation as one of the most intensely talked about and widely discussed groups, both in special forums and in the mass media. Their power is perhaps much overestimated, and yet in the information society we pay a special rent to this non-organized, if not fully anarchic, group: a sort of a tax is added to the cost of almost every computerized system, the money has to be spent on so-called computer security. Institutions and corporations are encouraged to pay more and more in attempts to guarantee security; the latter is never believed to be safe enough. The ever-growing costs are justified, since the evil actions of computer hackers (or else phreakers, crackers, carders, computer pirates, etc.) have evidently proved that they might be really harmful and, if successful, cause even more tiresome and unexpected costs.
