COMPUTER hacking is no joke. It costs companies millions of pounds in lost business and downtime.

And anyone who has ever been affected by a computer virus - either at work or at home - will understand the seriousness of the case involving two young men at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

Andrew Harvey, 22, of Durham, and Jordan Bradley, 20, of Darlington, are facing jail after admitting being involved in launching a virus which caused computer chaos around the world.

The pair were arrested during an investigation into an international hacking group responsible for an Internet worm which infected 18,000 computers worldwide.

The group, known as the THr34t-Krew, is thought to have members throughout the world, most of them in their teens or early twenties.

It is hard to understand the satisfaction these people get from their twisted hobby. They clearly have skills which could be put to all kinds of constructive uses.

But with so much at stake, a strong message has to be sent to the world's computer hackers that what they are doing is not a game but a serious crime with devastating consequences.

Andrew Harvey and Jordan Bradley have ended up with criminal records and a likely jail sentence. Hopefully, their story will be a lesson to others.