What Kind of Germ Creates a Computer Virus?

As a new Internet bug, 'Stages,' does the rounds, TIME.com's Jessica Reaves wonders about goes on (or doesn't) in the minds of those responsible for Web vandalism.

By Jessica Reaves Tuesday, June 20, 2000

    • I am tired of these viruses.

    Every morning, I come into work, relatively chipper and ready to face the day. Problem is, more mornings than not, I'm met with the dispiriting news that a new high-tech bug is stalking my computer. By 10:30 or so, I've reached a state of low-grade panic; I have a third cup of coffee and imagine the virus circling my e-mail in-box like a vulture hunting for injured prey. And I know I'm in for it, because let's face facts: In the grand scheme of the Internet world, I'm roughly the equivalent of a field mouse who's had both its knees kicked in.

    It's taken me a long time to admit this, but here goes: I know close to nothing about computers, and my ignorance renders me virtually defenseless against the machinations of a bunch of 15-year-old kids with pocket protectors.

    I know, I know. That's an ugly stereotype of hackers. I'm sure that some of them are at least 18. But even that doesn't really make me feel any better. And now, after enduring the onslaught of "Melissa," the "Love Bug" and now "Stages," I've just about had it. I want some answers. Who are these people and why are they so bent on destroying my hard drive and depriving me of precious e-mail?

    Let's take those questions one at a time. I'll provide my deeply uninformed responses first, and then we'll turn things over to the experts.

    Who are these people?

    Most hackers are obscenely young computer geniuses whose IQs probably trump mine by roughly 30 points. Most of these people are not what you would call social butterflies. They hack alone.

    Dr. Charles Kreitzberg, CEO of Cognetics Corporation, a software company in Princeton Junction, N.J.:

    "Most hackers are creative and intelligent, but they're not necessarily people who fit comfortably into mainstream culture; they're a counterculture group that likes to operate with relatively few face-to-face interactions."

    Why do they do it?

    That's a question doomed to yield little more than informed guesses. My feeling is that viruses are the 21st-century equivalent of the pig's-blood scene in "Carrie." In other words, we're dealing with a bunch of people who didn't have a great time in high school, and whose deepest desires fluctuate daily between wanting to be Bill Gates and wanting to destroy the entire Microsoft mainframe.

    Haverford College professor Douglas Davis, who specializes in personality psychology and how people are affected by computer systems:

    "In psychoanalytic terms, these hackers have a fantasy about what's going to happen. They probably imagine their victims thinking they're going to have a pleasurable experience (like opening a love letter or reading a joke) and it turns into something really rotten. It's kind of like leaving an unpleasant package in someone's mailbox and watching them open it. Hacking is, of course, a huge power trip for a young kid who gets to inflict this kind of inconvenience or actual discomfort on a whole lot of grown-ups, including the heads of the same corporations many of these kids might like to see humiliated."

    Dr. Kreitzberg:

    "Obviously, there's a wide spectrum of hackers, and most are not evil people trying to create havoc. If you look at most viruses, they don't create terrible destruction. It's much more like Zorro leaving his Z — these people want to let you know they were there, and that they were successful. Having said that, there is a lot of spurious philosophy evident in their content that's reminiscent of the 1960s. Back then, the counterculture believed that the military industrial complex was evil, and there was a movement to eat away at it from the outside. Today, hackers look at big business as evil, and when they manage to slow or even stop those corporations, they see themselves as revolutionaries, like David felling Goliath."

    Yeah, well, I'm certainly pleased these hackers get to flex their biblical knowledge and hit one home for the little people and everything. But here's a word of advice for any hackers who want to become just a tad more user-friendly: Next time you feel like hacking something, guys, stick to the real Goliaths and for Pete's sake, stay the heck out of my tiny little cubicle.