IP: HackWar -- Computers Under Attack Can Hack Back, Expert Says

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-defcon-hackback.html?pag
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Computers Under Attack Can Hack Back, Expert Says
By REUTERS

Filed at 1:50 p.m. ET

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Can vigilantism save computers from the next big virus
threat?

Striking back against a computer that is attacking you may be illegal under
U.S. law, but a security researcher says people should be allowed to
neutralize one that is unwittingly spreading destructive Internet worms like
Nimda.

``Arguably the biggest threat the Internet faces today is the propagation of
a big worm,'' Timothy Mullen, chief information officer of AnchorIS Inc.,
based in Charleston, South Carolina.

Worms are a form of self-propagating virus that once set in motion can wreak
havoc by taking control of other machines and then use these to launch
attacks on the wider Internet.

``The next worm is going to happen, and it's going to be worse,'' Mullen
said at the annual DefCon hacker conference, which started on Friday.

The defensive strategy of ``strike back'' is gaining some support among
members of the U.S. Congress. They will be voting on a bill backed by movie
and music studios that would allow retaliation to help thwart Internet
piracy.


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