Today, Russia's hackers, who even have their own magazine, titled Khaker, have created a new underground culture that perhaps offers more excitement than passing around banned poetry. Microsoft said Friday that hackers broke into its network and gained access to blueprints for software under development. Passwords used to transfer the source code were being sent from the company's computer network in Redmond, Wash., to an e-mail account in St. Petersburg. The hacking community here is peopled by graduates in their twenties who excel at mathematics and physics, both of which are still very strong in Russia. The city also benefits from its proximity to the Baltic States.
Computers are accessible in universities and increasingly in the home.
The country's biggest gas company, Gazprom, is regularly hit by hackers. Russia's most famous hacker remains Vladimir Levin. Aleksandr Volevodz, a Moscow prosecutor, said it's a blessing that computers are not as widespread yet in Russia as they are in Western Europe and the United States. The Russian experience is mirrored in Eastern Europe, where bright young people have become adept at cracking piracy- protection codes on commercial software, partly due to harsh economic conditions.