If there's one thing Sarah Gordon understands, it's the mind of the virus writer. In her current position as a senior research fellow for the Symantec Antivirus Research Center, Gordon conducts research on the ethical implications of technology and the psychological aspects of human-computer interaction. Recently, CSO her what makes virus writers tick.

What did you find when you unraveled the hackers' psyche?

Sarah Gordon: Like many young people engaging in at-risk behaviors, virus writers often don't comprehend the consequence of their actions for themselves or others. That, coupled with their ordinary "boy-or-girl-next-door-ness," makes them not so different from most young people.

However, somewhere there is a fundamental disconnect between virus writing and acknowledging the large-scale consequences of those actions.

[ Read more ]