At least one of the techies in charge of securing the 2002 Olympic Winter Games' computer network is having a lot of fun.

Despite general security concerns and fears of attacks directed at the Olympics computer system, Matt McClung of Salt Lake City security firm Satel is excited about a job that would leave many systems administrators in a catatonic state. McClung -- working with an international team of security experts -- isn't at all intimidated by the prospect of unauthorized Web visitors trying to invade the complex network established by the Olympics committee. During the Sydney games, Australian newspapers wrote about warnings of the impending "great hack of 2000." The media predicted a fierce game of wits that would pit the FBI, Australian police and computer experts from IBM against an international ring of hackers intent on protesting Australia's treatment of its indigenous people. McClung believes that stories of threatened hack attacks on his and other Olympic computer systems have been somewhat over hyped, but he's prepared for the worst anyway. He said the Salt Lake system was designed from the start with security in mind. Olympic "insiders" were said to be worried that hackers would disrupt the Games by placing false press releases on the official website, change scores by accessing the computerized scoreboard system and disrupt the Games by tinkering with the system that handled the transport and traffic systems. Despite the excitement, cybercrime experts said they couldn't recall any serious crack attempts against the Sydney Olympics network.