The series is set in the year 2099, in a dystopian possible future of the Marvel Universe, and features Kenshiro "Zero" Cochrane, a hacker who was killed but resurrected as the Ghost Rider — his mind controlling a powerful and well-armed robot. As with most of the Marvel 2099 titles, the protagonist was a futuristic version of a commercially successful Marvel Universe character. The series was heavily influenced by cyberpunk science fiction.

The Hacker Files is a twelve issue DC Comics mini-series published from August 1992 to July 1993. It was written by Lewis Shiner and illustrated by Tom Sutton.