The long, awkward silence is always the first sign that a previously over-confident hacker realizes he’s suddenly become the victim. It happens every time.

The malicious hacker had been firing his “ion cannon” at my network address trying to overwhelm my home computer and internet connection. I had sent him an email the day before letting him know that I knew who he was, what he did for a living (he was a budding wedding photographer), his name (Rick), and that he was newly married to a beautiful girl. That’s enough to frighten off most hackers, but sometimes, like Rick, they persist.