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Program designed to allow people to "share" audio and video files with each other over a distributed network. See Napster.

Slang name given to someone extremely knowledgeable about computers. Pejorative in some circles—but not here. See Cracker.

The process of examining and experimenting with something, such as the telephone system or a computer, in order to find out how it works. Hacking often occurs without the owner's knowledge or permission.

Form of protest that uses computer skills, mostly focusing on website defacing, to spread a message. See Web site defacing.

An organization or collection of people who advocate violence and discrimination against another group of people. Usually motivated by religious or racial differences.

Sometimes called rule-based or artificial intelligence analysis, it uses intelligent guesswork, which more often than not finds the solution faster than a standard algorithm. Antivirus programs use heuristic analysis to examine a file, and based on typical virus characteristics, make an educated guess as to whether a file is infected or not.

A program that can directly examine and modify the contents of a file or disk.

A phony target used to tempt hackers. Often used to keep hackers logged on to a system long enough to trace their location, or to lure a hacker into a harmless part of a network so that he or she can't get out and cause real damage . Also called a goat file.

Popular instant messaging program.

Passing yourself off as another person electronically.

Popular term to describe hacking on an individual, commercial, and international level.

A program that examines each file and calculates a numeric result based on that file's size, time, and date stamp. If the integrity checker notices that the file's size, time, or date has changed, it assumes the file may have been infected by a virus or modified by a hacker. See Checksum.

Program designed to detect the presence of a hacker who has already penetrated a system. Often abbreviated as IDS.

(Internet Relay Chat) A loosely structured network where people can type and send messages to each other in real time.

Cross-platform programming language used to create web page applets and full-blown applications.

A program that records keystrokes and/or mouse clicks on a computer, usually without the user's knowledge.

A free version of Unix designed for personal computers. Although Linux can be copied and distributed without restriction, many companies sell their own versions of Linux that include technical support, software, or other value-added services.

A type of program, often buried within another program, that is set to go off on a certain date or by a specific event, erasing data or crashing the computer. Logic bombs are often inserted by disgruntled programmers willing to sabotage their own programs to get back at their employers.

A virus written using the macro programming language of a particular program. The most common macro viruses are written in WordBasic or Visual Basic for Applications, although a few macro viruses have been written in the macro programming language for WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. See Visual Basic for Applications.

(MBR) The information stored on a hard disk that tells the computer how the hard disk is partitioned. Most hard disks have only one partition but can usually be divided into as many as four partitions.

A virus that made headlines in all the major newspapers worldwide in 1992. The Michelangelo virus isn't as common as many other viruses.

Acronym that stands for Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) Audio Layer- 3, a file compression format for storing digital audio. See Napster and Gnutella.

A type of virus that can infect both files and boot sectors.

A programming tool kit designed to help virus writers create polymorphic viruses, which can modify themselves to avoid detection by antivirus scanners. See Polymorphic virus.