The whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks has been under great pressure to stop publishing secret diplomatic cables. In response, computer hackers from around the world have mobilised and are targeting corporations including PayPal, Visa and Mastercard after these companies dropped their support to WikiLeaks. But who are these hackers? And should we be impressed by their technological wizardry or scorn them as geeky but troublesome teenagers who should be subject to the full force of the law? Leila Sattary enters the mysterious world of computer hackers.

I grew up during the dawn of the internet age and I even dimly remember browsing the web and playing with code prior to the existence Facebook, or Wikipedia, or online shopping. Those were primitive but carefree days – before the mass use and reliance on the internet. Times have moved on, and the only place I get called 1337 (elite) these days is when playing Call of Duty rather than writing code. The internet has changed the way we communicate – large corporations and governments use the internet to transfer their secret information and individuals share their personal information, including bank details, across web. Data security and privacy online have become vitally important creating a new challenge for the hackers that both protect and infiltrate secure information.

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