They've become a part of the pop-culture landscape: sexy, private shots of celebrities (your Scarletts, your Milas) stolen from their phones and e-mail accounts. They're also the center of an entire stealth industry. For the man recently arrested in the biggest case yet, hacking also gave him access to a trove of Hollywood's seamiest secrets—who was sleeping together, who was closeted, who liked to sext. What the snoop didn't realize was that he was being watched, too.

The man who started the hacker wars.

Every online scam begins more or less the same—a random e-mail, a sketchy attachment. But every so often, a new type of hacker comes along. Someone who rewrites the rules, not just the code. He secretly burrows his way into your hard drive, then into your life. Is he following your every move?

Kim Proctor was no different than your ordinary teenage girl. Easily hurt by insults and just as easily swayed by compliments, she dwelled in an angsty purgatory familiar to most adolescents. But when Kim went from average kid to missing girl, her storyline took a tragic turn.

WikiLeaks has revealed the secrets of the Pentagon, Scientology, and Sarah Palin—and the explosive video of a US attack on civilians and journalists in Iraq. Meet the shadowy figure behind the whistleblower site.

A blind boy with a keen sense of hearing discovered he had an uncanny talent for manipulating people on the telephone – and made enough mischief that it took the FBI to stop him.

Push Singh and Chris McKinstry had a lot in common: Both Canadian. Both coders. Both obsessed with tapping the Web to create a true artificial intelligence. And both found dead in the same strange way.

NASA put a man on the moon - then lost the videotape. A grizzled crew of ex-rocket jockeys are on a star-crossed mission to find it.

20 million kids can't get enough - and neither can advertisers. How a virtual animal kingdom became a product placement paradise.