Computer Hardware

Steve Jobs called Jony Ive his “spiritual partner at Apple.” The London-born genius was the second-most powerful person at Apple and the creative force who most embodies Jobs’s spirit, the man who designed the products adopted by hundreds of millions the world over: the iPod, iPad, MacBook Air, the iMac G3, and the iPhone.

Just 30 years ago, the average household only had a few electronics consisting of a television, landline phones, and appliances. Fast forward to today, and the average household has over four times this number, and it continues to grow by the day. This trend isn't just specific to households - it exists at companies, government entities, and virtually every organization and establishment around the world, including in developing countries. This has created a massive electronic waste issue, which is the largest growing stream of solid waste in the world.

In Cyber Hacking: Wars in Virtual Space, we peer behind the cyber curtain. First, we look at the hackers - who they are, how they work, their motivations, and methods. The opening article examines hardware - specifically microprocessors and why they are vulnerable to tampering. Then we turn to the internal attacks, the worms and viruses whose resulting damage ranges from merely inconvenient and attention-getting to expensive and dangerous. Next, we take a broad look at issues of privacy and the technology used to gather and track personal information.