Why do hackers hack? Why create a worm that sends out an email to everyone in your contact list, or a Trojan that deletes your term papers? Is it mischief, malice, money, or something else entirely?
This is the question that was on my mind when I met with Mikko Hypponen, a legendary computer security heavyweight who has been hunting viruses for 25 years—since Brain.a, the first PC
computer virus.
From the plaza, I walked out to a seat by the water facing the San Francisco Bay. Hypponen was there, waiting for me. I sat down next to him. I felt like we needed code phrases.
"What makes this a
New Orleans iced coffee," he asked, as he accepted his drink.
"It's the chicory," I replied.
"Did you know the Finns drink more coffee per capita than any other nation?"
"I did know that," I replied. "I know a lot about coffee."
Okay! I guess we had our code phrases after all.
Hypponen is the lead security researcher for F-Secure in Finland. His takedowns and diagnosis include some of the nastiest, biggest computer viruses out there: Sobig.F, Sasser, Storm Worm.
PC World called him one of the 50 most important people on the Web. Hypponen was on his way to a black hat conference in Las Vegas.
We met at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco, sitting by the pier as commuter boats came and went. I wanted to ask him about the long history of personal computer viruses, now in their 25th year, from the simple to Stuxnet, and the shifting motivations that inspire virus writers to act. We had an hour.
