The issue focused on software systems (such as databases and computing machines) that store electronic records in digital form. Computer programmers needed to ensure that computers used by computer hackers did not betray passwords or other sensitive data stored on them. The hardware devices themselves could also be hacked. A laptop computer would require extra hardware for cryptography, hardware encryption keys, hardware keyboards and printers, software scanners and disks, software processors and monitors, memory chips and disk controllers. Computers made from PCs were vulnerable because they contained PC processor cores that