Asymmetrical Information

Market forces

Despite what you might think, I don't think that everything should be done for money rather than love, and I'm particularly unhappy about this

As John Leyden, a correspondent for the irreverent British information technology website The Register says: "Virus writers are pretty much typically teenage boys who write malicious code because it's basically an act of vandalism. Basically they're doing it for the personal vanity or as an experiment." But, he adds, "That has changed a lot this year." 2004 has seen the commercialization of online crime. Leyden says that unlike past viruses and worms, most of which either broadcast messages in third-grade English or commit wanton destruction, "the viruses that are coming into circulation do many things that are useful." Most often, these "useful" things include hijacking your computer or stealing your credit-card information. According to a September 2004 study by the antivirus firm Trend Micro, "malicious code" such as viruses and worms have increased sixfold since last year. Sixty-one percent of the malicious codes were "Trojan horse" programs--most of which are designed for committing fraud. One of the more dangerous--and more common--species is the "keylogger" Trojan horse; a typical example lies dormant until the victim accesses his or her online banking website, then records the user's login and password and e-mails them back to the perp. It's one of the most painless methods around for committing identity theft.