1.   And some have escalated their role from tipster to sleuth, accumulating evidence to identify actual suspects, including malicious hackers, virus writers and online child pornographers.

2.   A newly discovered security flaw apparently will make it easier than ever for malicious hackers to eavesdrop on wireless data networks.

3.   But the fascination with malicious hacker culture has spawned a profusion of wannabes whose bark is far worse than their bite.

4.   High-speed connections make computers a tempting target for all kinds of malicious hackers, called crackers.

5.   If such information is kept quiet, the argument goes, malicious hackers will be armed while many of their targets will be defenseless.

6.   That difference in basic network architecture, some engineers say, also makes cable networks more vulnerable to malicious hackers than phone networks are.

7.   Users often think that they have nothing in their accounts that a malicious hacker would want to see.

8.   But it also could help malicious hackers, showing them weak spots in defenses where they could concentrate an attack.