Hackers and Virtual Perps: Beware of the ICSA.net Sleuths

[mea culpa <jericho () DIMENSIONAL COM>]

[Moderator: If any of this guy's employees end up in jail, they belong
 there. The implications that 2600 meetings involve illegal activity is a
 joke. Even if they did, his team should not participate in it no matter
 what the cost. They can fit in without it. And if all it took was a
 letter from some guy with the word "security" in his title to get someone
 out of jail, our prison system would be quite empty.]

From: "Noonan, Michael D" <michael.d.noonan () intel com>

http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB938637421701976364.djm

Hackers and Virtual Perps:
Beware of ICSA.net Sleuths
By DEAN TAKAHASHI
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

CARLISLE, Pa. -- David Kennedy carries a special pager just in case any of
his employees winds up in jail.

It's a distinct possibility: Mr. Kennedy runs a posse of computer-security
specialists who use some aggressive gumshoe tactics to track malicious
hackers and virus writers.

Mr. Kennedy has his pager because he sends his undercover employees to
hacker meetings such as the infamous 2600 hacker gathering in New York.
His agents fit in with the crowds, which are awash in jeans, ponytails and
cherubic faces. "If they get picked up," Mr. Kennedy says, "I have their
'get out of jail free' card."

His team is part of ICSA.net Inc. (www.icsa.net <http://www.icsa.net/>1),
a closely held company that assesses security threats and evaluates
antivirus software for large corporations. One of the company's charters
is to keep its ear to the computer underground, even to the point of
infiltrating it, explains Peter Tippett, the company's chief technology
officer. "You have to straddle both worlds," he says, "with one foot above
ground and one underground if you want to know what's really going on."

[snip..]

ISN is sponsored by Security-Focus.COM