The Internet is a different animal. First, there are things on the Internet that are of almost immeasurable value. Second, a criminal can attempt to breach Internet security with minimal fear of detection and even less fear of prosecution. Anything on the Internet is, then, subject to attack and violation. Corporate trade secrets, the CIA, the FBI, perhaps the air traffic control system, the Fed, the Whitehouse, and others.
Terrorism can now be electronic.
The public telephone system is one potentially vulnerable target. Risk of Detection A reasonable possibility of being caught trying to violate a computer system exists, but few who are caught get more than a wrist slap. Just like a human being leaves fingerprints or a radio transmitter can be located by triangulation, it is possible to locate a hacker. So locating the computer used to hack may do little good. Once a hacker has penetrated a computer's defenses, he hacker appears to be a legitimate user of the system.