In the eighties, the super nerds were called “Happy Hackers,” mostly eager to score points within the community rather than to steal stuff.

NEW YORK — What began as a ninth-grade prank, a way to trick already-suspicious friends who had fallen for his earlier practical jokes, has earned Rich Skrenta notoriety as the first person ever to ...

The prank, though annoying to victims, is relatively harmless compared with the viruses of today. Every 50th time someone booted an infected disk, a poem he wrote would appear, saying in part, ...