Frustrated at the inability of law enforcement to properly tackle the problem of hackers breaking into their computer networks, a growing plurality of corporate information technologists said they would step beyond simply securing their systems by counter-hacking attackers.
These surprising results-possibly showing a trend toward "corporate vigilantism" in combating computer networks-came from a survey conducted by Interpact that was released Wednesday at a Washington conference on information warfare in conjunction with the MIS Training Institute.
Meanwhile, a top official with the National Infrastructure Protection Council fingered India and Israel as the two countries that pose the greatest information threat against the United States.
In the survey of corporate information technology managers' attitudes towards retaliating against hackers, 44 percent said that companies should respond by re-attacking the hacker, while 40 percent disagreed and 26 percent said it would depend upon the circumstances.
"There is a great deal of frustration within corporate America," said Winn Schwartau, president of Interpact, a consultancy specializing in cyberterrorism. "The concept of vigilantism has emerged as law enforcement is too busy or not competent" to deal with corporate sensitivities about cyberattacks.
Even more managers endorsed a recent tactic employed by the Department of Defense when, in response to a cyberattack, the Pentagon struck back by employing software that disabled the attackers' browsers. Of nearly 500 survey respondents, 50 percent agreed with the action, while only 22 percent disagreed, and 28 percent neither agreed nor disagreed.
At the same time, a top Central Intelligence Agency official, who provides the first chief analysis and warning for the NIPC, said that Israel and India pose the greatest threat to the United States because they combine a track record in industrial espionage with the likelihood of offensive information warfare capabilities and also have been engaged in major repairs designed to fix the Y2K computer glitch.
"India and Israel appear to be countries whose governments or industry may most likely use their access to implant malicious code in light of their assessed motive, opportunity, and means," said Terrill Maynard, the CIA official detailed to the NIPC at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who spoke earlier at the conference.
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