id author title date pages extension mime words sentences flesch summary cache txt www-nytimes-com-5258 Nations Buying as Hackers Sell Flaws in Computer Code - The New York Times .html text/html 2048 114 66 All over the world, from South Africa to South Korea, business is booming in what hackers call "zero days," the coding flaws in software like Microsoft Windows that can give a buyer unfettered access to a computer and any business, agency or individual dependent on one. Just a few years ago, hackers like Mr. Auriemma and Mr. Ferrante would have sold the knowledge of coding flaws to companies like Microsoft and Apple, which would fix them. But increasingly the businesses are being outbid by countries with the goal of exploiting the flaws in pursuit of the kind of success, albeit temporary, that the United States and Israel achieved three summers ago when they attacked Iran's nuclear enrichment program with a computer worm that became known as "Stuxnet." Ten years ago, hackers would hand knowledge of such flaws to Microsoft and Google free, in exchange for a T-shirt or perhaps for an honorable mention on a company's Web site. ./cache/www-nytimes-com-5258.html ./txt/www-nytimes-com-5258.txt