Computers from as far away as Thailand and Japan have found their way to my humble apartment in New York City. A Canadian identified only as guelphppp217545.sympatico.ca must have wanted in badly. He, she or it tried 15 times over the course of a few minutes. Now, when I get home at the end of the day and check my e-mail, I also look to see who's been knocking at my computer door. It turns out that the domain names and IP addresses that show up in the log may not belong to the people doing the dirty work.
Hackers often commandeer other people's computers or ISPs to mask what they're up to.
As for what they want, a lot of the hits are harmless. Some may even come from applications, like Napster, that I have authorized to run. But at least some of them are probably hackers trying to rummage through my files, hoping to lift my credit-card number or empty my bank account. And yes, one pop-up advised me that maniacalarmy.org was trying to get into my computer. Ala. The people who work for the company may be perfectly innocent, although they have been dodging my phone calls.