In areas other than politics, the "NY Times" sometimes manages to do a credible job of accurate reporting. This is particularly true for a recent "Times" article by John Markoff about a major, growing problem with programs called "botnets" that are secretly installing themselves on personal computers just about everywhere.

   They network with other infected computers and amplify the devastating effect of their viruses. Sometimes they go for corporate and personal information that enables them to clean out bank accounts. Sometimes they crash your computer’s hard drive. They’re liable to do just about anything.

   Gadi Evron, of the Israeli company "Beyond Security" was quoted in the article as saying that, "The war to make the Internet safe was lost long ago, and we need to figure out what to do now."

   David Dagon, a Georgia Institute of Technology researcher noted that, "...the scale and the power of the ‘botnet’ programs have clearly become immense." It was also noted that, "...the consensus among scientists is that ‘botnet’ programs are present on about 11 percent of the more than 650 million computers attached to the Internet."

   David J. Farber, a Carnegie Mellon computer scientist was quoted as saying that, "It’s an insidious threat and what worries me is that the scope of the problem is still not clear to most people." He also noted that, "The popular machines are so easy to penetrate, and that is scary."

   Many who are up to no good with these insidious methods are "hackers" in Russia and Easter Europe. And don’t count out China and the Middle East. They are everywhere and they’re after your computer.

   The "Times" verifies this with the researched observation that in recent years, "...such attacks have increasingly become endemic, forcing increasingly stringent security responses."

   We all must become educated to this problem and take the necessary steps to increase the security. If we don’t, we’re in real trouble. As John Markoff wrote, "Computer security experts warn that ‘botnet’ programs threaten the viability of the commercial Internet. The problem is being compounded, they say, because many Internet service providers are either ignoring or minimizing the problem."

   It’s up to each of us to make the right decision with regard to these security issues.