In 1983, the movie was developed to expose the identities of Black Hat hackers in general and the 414-gang in particular. Though the intent of the movie was to warn audiences across North America that crackers could break into any computer system, many viewers instead walked away from the film perceiving that attractive young women could actually become attracted to previously ignored computer geeks.

The story line behind the movie involved a young computer fanatic who by accident accessed a top-secret “super-computer” having total control of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The computer challenged the computer geek to a supposed computer game between America and Russia. The lad began to play the game—and then realized that he may have naively begun the countdown to World War 3, involving the United States and Russia.

See Also: Black Hats; Computer; Computer Addiction; Geek.