The book begins in 1998 in St. Petersburg. Lex and Nick, two brothers from an exemplary orphanage, are seriously interested in computer science and programming. One day they hack into a local network in a computer club owned by a retired FSB officer. The series of events caused by this prank will force friends to wander to all corners of our country - and not only ours. Secret organizations, industrial espionage, quick money, cyberwars, successful network projects, contract killings, the will of the powers that be - all this and much more will eventually make former brothers-in-arms mortal enemies. And not the least role in this will be played by a mysterious girl with a keychain in the shape of a silver metal spider... The book “Hackers. Basic" contains secret information about some of the events that took place in the IT field (and not only) during the period from 1998 to 2006. Many names have been changed for the safety of the Ethnogenesis project.