NARRATOR: Now, computer hacking is rising to a whole other level.
A new generation of cyber weapons aren't just for stealing your credit cards ERIC CHIEN: My mouth was wide open going, "Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God!" NARRATOR: but are designed for mass destruction, targeting factories, water supplies, power grids, and now, they're on the loose.
SEAN McGURK: It was never intended to get in the wild, but unfortunately it did.
NARRATOR: It's a digital arms race, and the stakes couldn't be higher.
McGURK: This was a digital Pandora's box.
NARRATOR: How can we protect ourselves on this new battlefield? "Rise of the Hackers," right now on NOVA.
Major funding for NOVA is provided by the following: Supporting NOVA and promoting public understanding of science.
And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
And by contributions to your PBS station from: And Millicent Bell, through: Additional funding from: NARRATOR: It's an intriguing group of scientists from many different backgrounds.
Some are experts in codes and code breaking.
Others are leading researchers in quantum physics.
A few are trying to build the world's most advanced computer.
But together, they're all taking on one common enemy: hackers.
The greatest threat today to the world is the keyboard.
In the past, it may have been nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction.
Today, we see that same level of capability being exercised by lone individuals using keyboards as opposed to bombs.
NARRATOR: Hackers are trying to devise ways to steal our money, our identities, our secrets.
But it's not just criminals.
