this is "nightline." >> tonight, hack attack. breaking down the door of an international cyber crime ring. terry moran taking us to the darkest corners of the internet, hiding in plain sight. >> what were your biggest hacks? >> nasa, the u.s. navy. >> inside the minds of computer hackers trying to steal your data, your dollars, your identity. tyler's legacy. >> brought a little gift to the team captain, man. >> the college football superfan who inspired a team and a dream. >> there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. as long as you rely on your faith, things will work out. >> touching hearts with his courageous battle. ♪ love will keep us together

tonight, a final salute to the captain who showed us love will keep us together. ♪ look in the heart and let love keep us together ♪ >> first here are the "nightline 5." >> i don't keep track of regrets. >> i don't add up the years. but what i do count on is boost. >> delicious boost high-protein nutritional drink. 33% more protein, 26 essential vitamins and minerals. boost high protein. this is charlie not coughing because he took ll 12 hour. this is charlie still not coughing. dellsym 12 hour. nothing lasts longer for

good evening and thank you for joining us. it is the crime of our century.

from e-commerce scams to malware attacks on corporations to influencing major elections, cyber attacks are creeping into our day-to-day lives. abc's terry moran takes us to the haven for some of the best hackers in the world and to the front lines of this cyber war. >> reporter: you're watching a series of raids, coordinated operations to take down suspected criminal enterprises. what these investigators are looking for, not drugs, or money -- but perhaps the most valuable currency on earth. information. it is the cornerstone of our connected world. and stealing it through hacking has become the crime of our time. >> there's many headlines, seems like every other week, there's a new data breach, more data has been lost or accessed. >> reporter: cyber crime cost

the u.s. economy anywhere between $50 billion and $100 billion in 2016. digital cat burglars climbing into your computer screen instead of your window. >> we are in the middle of cyber war. information is power. when you hold information, you have the power. >> reporter: tonight we're taking you on a journey to the other side of the headlines, onto the home turf -- >> translator: nobody can stop us, it's just not possible. >> think of climbing everest. i wanted to see how far i could go. >> reporter: and into the mind of a hacker. >> when i want to hack something, i want to know what i can do, what's the worst thing i can do? >> a snowy winter's day in bucharest, romania. we've come here because this country has a surprising claim to fame. it's one of the centers of hacking around the world. russia, north korea, and romania. and we wanted to find out why. romania may not be as notorious

as well-known counterparts but over the last 20 years it's been a haven for some of the best hackers in the world. fbi special agent peter trayvan has spearheaded the fight against cyber crime here. >> romanian hackers are good? >> very good. i always say they're very professional criminals. they've had decades to basically hone their skills. >> reporter: after the romanian revolution and the fall of communism in 1989, the country endured a prolonged period of economic turmoil. >> after the end of communism, you have a lot of technically trained individuals. with the job market being what it was at the time, they realized that there was more of an effort could be made in making more money and turning to hacking. >> reporter: over the years it's created an underground industry, with romanian hackers becoming known around the world. >> a man suspected of hacking into the e-mail of former president george w. bush is under arrest in romania. a man who goes by the nickname guccifer --

>> the individuals can make more money in the cyber underground compared to using those skill sets to work for private sector, the government. it makes it very hard to compete with the money that these individuals can make. >> reporter: hacking, as we hear it in the headlines, can mean a number of things. from gaining access to the information stored in a computer system to stealing passwords and breaching accounts, including e-mails and banking information. this is cert where the magic happens. >> pretty much this is where the magic happens when it comes to incident response. >> reporter: the national cybersecurity and incident response team in romania, like the first responders for hacking attacks. >> how many incidents per year do you have to deal with? >> in 2017, we processed around 140 million alerts. >> 140 million alerts? >> yeah. >> these alerts are computers telling other computers, i'm under attack? >> yeah. >> reporter: attacks that come from hackers like alex kotunia.

>> are you a hacker? >> yeah, i am a hacker. i'm a good hacker. >> most people in america hear hacker, they think you're a criminal, a vandal, a bad guy. >> i like to help. i want to make our i.t. industry better. >> reporter: experts like alex are called white hat hackers, good guys, security consultants hired by companies to hack them. today he's going to attempt to hack google, but don't worry. he's allowed to do this. >> how much does google pay up? >> up to $40,000. >> $40,000 to hack google, like a bounty hunter? >> yeah. >> have you made pretty good money doing this? >> i can pay my rent. i can have a better life. >> we're just sitting here at a restaurant in bucharest using their wi-fi and you're starting to probe google? >> yeah. >> you can do it anywhere? >> sometimes i do this from

home, sometimes i go in a bar, having a cup of coffee, a tea. sometimes i go to starbucks. yeah. >> reporter: and despite the lure of the dark side, alex continues to use his hacking exploits for good. >> you were never tempted? >> no, no. because i know who i am. i cannot see my life like that. hiding from police, from others. >> reporter: but while people like alex are the superheroes of the cyber world, we wanted to meet the other guys. black hat hackers. the bad guys on the other side of the law. 100 miles north of buick rest -- >> we've been driving for a couple of hours now through mountains, very traditional villages. we are about to head to a place very different. >> reporter: an idyllic mountain oasis. but around the world it has a

troubling nickname, hackerville. >> this is a town that had many organized groups of hackers. >> reporter: this city had a crackdown and despite law enforcement, it gained a reputation for the ground zero of hackers. it's here we met this man. >> translator: there's companies and they have competition. everyone is trying to get information on the others so i'm a mercenary who gets paid to get that information from the competitors. the demand for information is huge. >> reporter: his name, well, he didn't want to share that. he says he is a hacker, a black hat, operating in the darkest corners of the internet. just meeting him here in this nondescript location took months to set up. >> translator: all of us wanted to pro who's theesit just n. even today it's a lot of fun for me. >> reporter: he says he is from hackerville, having grown up here. and he claims to have hacked governments and companies for eir informiofos.

>> translator: we're talking about sums as high as tens of thousands of dollars or euros. if you have information on your competitors you'll always be one step ahead. i had clients who sometimes didn't just want information but wanted their competitors' databases damaged or destroyed or taken offline. of course, this pays more. >> reporter: abc news could not independently verify his so-called hacking exploits, some of which sound pretty lofty. >> translator: until today there hasn't been a company i couldn't hack. it may have taken longer or shorter but the coolest thing is when people don't know we're there. you go in, pass on the information, and stay there like an invisible tick. >> reporter: black hat hackers like this man claims to be and white hat hackers like alex are on opposing sides of the so-called cyber war. one side fighting to break into systems and steal information. the other trying to stop them. >> so they really want that information? >> yeah, because it's valuable. >> how do you stop a talented hacker?

if you're a company? how would you stop you? >> the simplest way is to hire them. they will know the mindset of a hacker and they'll help your company. >> reporter: which is why some companies are doing just that. cyber smart defense is a leading cybersecurity firm, you know, the good guys. but they hire some of the most notorious reformed former bad guys in their ranks. >> the bad guys, they will move from the street where they -- for example, they used to rob banks. these things are not happening anymore because it's much easier to hack a bank and then convert the money into bitcoin or whatever cryptocurrency and make it disappear. >> reporter: and in this war, they have soldiers. this is razvan, hacker nickname tinkode. victor, hacker nickname sir vick. in their past they both have been charged and jailed for hacking companies and government

entities in the west. >> victor, you must have known it was a crime? >> yeah, i knew. i just didn't take it serious. i said, well, okay, even if they catch me and the police come, i'll probably get a slap on the wrist and move on. >> instead you got a federal indictment in the united states? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: in our connected world that seems to be constantly under siege, companies like csd hope to beat the bad guys at their own game. >> you got an all-star team here. >> yeah. they do now exactly what they used to do before. but now, of course, it's legal, authorized. >> reporter: the company's founder, modalin, grew up in hackerville and is hoping to use his hometown's reputation to usher in the next generation of computer security experts. >> when it comes to i.t., romania and hackerville will become the silicon valley of europe. >> reporter: and while international law enforcement, the romanian national police and the fbi, have cracked down on cyber crime over the last decade -- >> i don't think it's the wild, wild west of the late '90s and early 2000s.

>> reporter: just like technology itself, the threats continue to evolve. >> i think there is no company which can't be hacked -- >> which can't be hacked? >> yeah. >> reporter: in the long war against cyber crime, the good guys can never let up because the bad guys are always on the attack. >> translator: some buy anti-virus software and think they're safe. that has nothing to do with it. for me it's five minutes' extra work to hack them. as far as i'm concerned, sooner or later, anything can be hacked. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm terry moran in romania. next, the young man who helped lead a team to victory and taught all of us an enduring lesson. (acapella) whoa! (vo) and vaporize it with an intense rush of vicks vapors. (acapella) ahhhhhhhhhhh! (vo) new dayquil severe with vicks vapocool. the daytime coughing, stuffy head, vaporize your cold, medicine. (host) here...at snowfest...

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back now with the story of tyler trent, the college football fan whose strength and spirit inspired so many of us. tonight espn's tom rinaldi on this young man's lasting legacy. >> reporter: fan. son. brother. fighter. inspiration. cocaptain. tyler trent, the purdue university sophomore whose battle with cancer stirred a football team and eventually touched a nation, has died. he was 20 years old. >> one, two, three -- >> reporter: before the weight loss and the compromised speech and the partial paralysis, tyler's fight began long before he ever came to purdue.

at 15 his life changed during a summer game of frisbee with friends. >> when i went and i threw that frisbee, i actually broke my arm. because my bone was so weak from the tumor eating it away. >> reporter: it was osteosarcoma, bone cancer. >> your first thought? >> will he make it? will we be able to beat it? >> reporter: in october 2014, doctors replaced the top half of tyler's arm, from shoulder to elbow, with titanium. after nine months of grueling chemotherapy, remission. and two years of cancer-free life. and then, four months before entering purdue on a presidential scholarship, the cancer returned. >> the first thing i said to my doctor, i don't care how hard it is, but i'm going to school on time.

>> reporter: in september 2017, tyler had surgery to replace his pelvis. 11 days later, he started school on time. guided by faith and driven by his fandom, not crutches nor chemo sessions stopped tyler from making sure he'd have tickets for the michigan game last season. >> he said, dad, i'm going to go camp out so i can be first in line, so i can have a front-row seat. and i said, tyler, do you really need to do that? and he said, yes, dad, i need to do it. >> reporter: head coach jeff brohm was among the first to see him. >> he didn't tell me his story, didn't tell me what he was going through. he had a positive attitude and brought a lot of life to the conversation. >> i thought it was a one-time thing. i thought coach brohm was coming over t't. from being on the field as an honorary captain last season, to

being back for the season opener this year, all while the cancer spread to his spine, forcing him to leave school this fall. after the boilermakers beat nebraska, september 29th, the team knew what they wanted to do the next day. >> what's up, buddy? got a little gift for our team captain, man. >> i appreciate that. >> we thank you for this time that we just get to spend here together. we ask for healing in your name. amen. >> amen. >> amen. >> thank you. >> how did he look to you? >> to me, he looks like a boilermaker. he looks like somebody who's going to fight until there is no fight. >> how do you see the future? >> well, immediate term, it's a

hope that purdue beats ohio state. >> reportchite, a double-digit underdog, take on the buckeyes. >> he is in hospice at home and wanted so desperately to be able to come here and be a part of this night. >> just to be here is a wave of emotions. >> touchdown! every boilermaker, they all say, tyler, this win is for you. >> thank you. thank you. >> any time. >> reporter: it was that fighting spirit, that unflinching will that captivated so many in the last months of trent's life. >> there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. as long as you rely on your faith, things will work out. >> reporter: trent's courage in the face of mortality and his message of gratitude in the midst of struggle inspired

donations to the v foundation and the creation of a cancer research endowment in his name at purdue. tyler trent's life has ended. his legacy remains. and while he never donned pads or caught passes, never scored a touchdown or made a tackle, he will be a cocaptain named by his teammates in perpetuity for so many seasons yet to come. >> and we'll be right back. >> and we'll be right back. >> and we'll be right back. i was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. but my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. is the fnke sonicare,ral-b hier gums. accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and safety. what an amazing clean!

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♪ stop i'll be thinking of you ♪ look in my heart and let love keep us together ♪ when that song "love will keep us together" topped the charts, it was the captain of captain and tennille who was key at the keyboards. the captain, real name daryl dragon, was the mostly silent, sailor cap-wearing half of the '70s duo. he died toe was 76 yea -we, toni tennilleey had

divorced in 2014. love did keep them together. we want to thank you for watching "nightline" tonight.ay streaming on hulu. good night, america.