Bizzarely the BBC has admitted to hijacking (hacking) 22,000 personal computers without user consent. The computers were then turned into a botnet, though allegedly no personal information was accessed on any of the infected systems.

The BBC News Online summary reports that the effort was made as part of an investigation into global cyber crime and to raise awareness about security. They claim that had the "exercise" been done with criminal intent then it would have broken the law:


The BBC claims to have now destroyed its botnet and informed owners of the unprotected PCs involved. It's certainly a very interesting, if somewhat legally questionable, way of exposing a well known problem with online security.