High-Speed Lines Could Increase Hacking

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High-Speed Lines Could Increase Hacking But The FBI Is Working With 'White Knight Hackers' To Get A Handle On The Problem

PORTLAND, Updated 4:35 p.m. PST March 19, 2000 -- If you're on the Internet -- here's what your service provider doesn't tell you: Hackers are trying to get into your computer all the time.

http://www.koin.com/news/stories/news-20000320-002152.html

The software to do it is free on the Internet, and as KOIN 6 News reports, new high-speed cable modems and DSL lines could make the problem worse.

Zot O'Conner admits he is a hacker, but now he's gone legit. He runs White Knight Hackers, a computer security consulting firm for businesses.

O'Conner works closely with special FBI agent George Heuston.

"We have to be tooled up enough -- in partnership with people like Zot in the White Hat Hacker community who'll work these cases when they come up and they come onto our scope for prosecution," Heuston told KOIN.

Heuston tracks cases such as the email attacks that temporarily shut down Yahoo!'s and CNN's Web sites. Hackers commandeered computers belonging to innocent people, amplified the attack and hid their own tracks at the same time.

Software is available on the Internet that enables the boy next door to control your computer -- download, edit or even delete your files, KOIN reports. Popular new high-speed data lines make hackers' jobs even easier because your computer is online all the time.

"If you're on DSL or on cable, you can bet the moment you plug your cable modem in, somebody's going to start scanning you," O'Conner said.

Software "firewalls" that help keep cyber-marauders out are relatively new, but the best protection may be to unplug your machine when you're not using it.

The FBI can't crack down on Internet sites that offer hackers the tools they use because the First Amendment protects their right to free speech.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 19, 2000


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