She had a sudden image of Bobby Joe as a computer vandal, impatiently and furtively breaking into some bank computer system.

Some of the creatures have functional structures similar to those found in the infamous "viruses" and "worms" created by computer vandals to disrupt data bases, files, memories and operating systems.

Anti-Hacker Site Is Knocked Out The CERT Coordination Center, one of the main places that the online world turns to for information when computer vandals attack, was itself bombarded.

Unlike Wiz and Jerry he didn't have the true hackers' deep contempt for computer vandals who used their skills to break into computer systems.

"True Names" is the tale of Mr. Slippery, a computer vandal who is caught by the government and pressed into service to stop a threat greater than himself.

The channel, which permits a number of computer users to share a typed conversation, has been a cyberspace hangout for young computer vandals involved in a variety of illicit activities.

NDB, an online broker, was cut off for more than an hour yesterday because of what it said was an attack by computer vandals that was similar to those against several prominent Web sites earlier this month.

Ever since the collision, which strained relations between the two nations, computer vandals have defaced both Chinese and American Web pages; in most cases, the attackers expressed pro-American sentiments on Chinese sites.

Industry executives and privacy advocates have also warned about abuses of new surveillance technologies by telephone company insiders and computer vandals.

As anonymous assaults on major Web sites continued yesterday, computer vandals crippled a large online brokerage operation and a media site.