Cyber attacks 8212; FBI launches criminal probe

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is mounting a full-scale investigation into a series of cyber attacks that blocked access to severa...

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is mounting a full-scale investigation into a series of cyber attacks that blocked access to several websites and has sent operators scrambling to prevent more disruptions. 8220;At this time we are not aware of the motives behind these attacks. But they appear to be aimed at disrupting legitimate electronic commerce,8221; US Attorney General Janet Reno told reporters on Wednesday after announcing the probe.

Some of the biggest names on the web have been victimised by hackers since Monday, notably Yahoo, Amazon.com and CNN.com. WorldBestBuy.com said it was hit on Wednesday by a hacker attack that left parts of its e-commerce site inaccessible for hours. CNBC television reported that online brokerage e-Trade had also fallen prey. Companies call the problem a 8220;denial of service attack8221; because their computers8217; security systems are never actually penetrated, but hackers send so much information through that almost no one else can use the site.

FBI will work with trainedfederal prosecutors and the Justice Department will expand computer response teams it despatches to probe such crimes, Reno said. She vowed to work to track down those responsible for these attacks. 8220;Technology has changed not only the way people do business, it has changed the way criminals do business,8221; she said, adding that the Net should provide an 8220;opportunity to bring the world together rather than splitting it apart. We are committed to taking steps to make sure e-commerce remains a secure place to do business.8221;

US officials called on companies to arm themselves against unknowingly being used as tools for the hacker attacks. 8220;For the Internet to be a safe place to do business, it is going to be incumbent upon the community to install the appropriate security measures,8221; said Ron Dick of National Infrastructure Protection Center. Usually, the hackers use a technique known as 8220;spoofing8221;, which allows them to effectively commandeer the computers of an innocent third party to send the high volumeof data after installing tools that allow the manipulation. While Silicon Valley companies are focusing resources on guarding against cyber vandalism, terrorism, and extortion, they are averse to giving away strategies.

A 1999 survey by San Francisco-based Computer Security Institute reveals that while 90 per cent of the respondents installed anti-virus software, slightly more than 60 per cent of them reported someone still managed to hack into their computer systems. The chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee announced plans to hold committee meetings in early March 8220;to examine security and privacy issues affecting the Internet8221; .

8220;It is only through the efforts of the government and the private sector that we will ever be able to thwart this kind of criminal activity,8221; Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said on Wednesday.

The cyber-vandalism has caused some insurance companies to begin offering special policies to protect against losses caused by hackers. Most traditional business insurance policiesdo not cover damage done by on-line incursions, according to the Insurance Information Network of California. But the demand for 8220;hacker insurance8221; could spurt in the wake of the recent attacks, said the network spokeswoman. Several easy-to-use attack programs have been circulating on the Net for six months or more, along with addresses of dozens of computer servers that have already been infiltrated so that they can be used as a launch pad, said a French anti-hacking expert.

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All the assailant has to do is to send out instructions, using this programme, to the servers so that they simultaneously hit the website with junk requests. The expert suggested that nerds, angered at the growing dominance of the Internet by a handful of firms, might have carried out the attacks.