Researchers are looking to change the face of cybersecurity by attacking internet worms before they infest networks and PCs. The idea is to take an offensive front by mimicking the behavior of ants, or rather, their ability to readily adapt to changing threats. The concept, called "swarm intelligence," enables "computer ants" to wander through computer networks looking for threats rather than remaining static, waiting for the offending intruder.

Hacker services are doing a roaring trade in the US offering access to partner's email accounts for less than $100, according to the Washington Post.

The Post was apparently amazed that women were paying hackers to find out if their husbands were cheating on them by getting the passwords for their email accounts from pirate sites. The charges for services from the likes of YourHackerz.com, ''piratecrackers.com'' and ''hackmail.net'' are small but apparently they are doing a roaring trade.

Since the earliest days of the Internet, people have tried to hack their way into the computers of others. Even as hacking has grown from a way for geeks to impress each other to a means for criminals to steal and blackmail, the strategy for computer security has remained largely the same: Companies and consumers erect the thickest walls they can around computers so the bad guys can't get in.

Now security experts, realizing they're losing the battle, are ready to try a new approach. They plan to recruit victims and other computer users to help them go on the offensive and hunt down the hackers. "It's time to stop building burglar alarms to keep people out and go after the bad guys," says Rowan Trollope, senior vice-president for consumer products at Symantec, the largest maker of antivirus software.