Hacked Companies Fight Back With Controversial Steps

PatPending writes with this report on companies taking aggressive steps to deal with electronic attacks: "Known in the cyber security industry as "active defense" or "strike-back" technology, the reprisals range from modest steps to distract and delay a hacker to more controversial measures. Security experts say they even know of some cases where companies have taken action that could violate laws in the United States or other countries, such as hiring contractors to hack the assailant's own systems. Other security experts say a more aggressive posture is unlikely to have a significant impact in the near term in the overall fight against cybercriminals and Internet espionage. Veteran government and private officials warn that much of the activity is too risky to make sense, citing the chances for escalation and collateral damage." If you've been involved in such an action, how did it work out for you?

Comments

I do the following

[Anonymous Coward]

I simply drive to the GeoIP location with my illegal police baton and smack the head of whoever happens to be there at the time when I arrive. I've been doing this for a few years now.

Re:I do the following

[JTsyo]

This explains the concussion I received at Starbucks last month.

Worked out quite well

[Anonymous Coward]

I got the location of the punks house and nailed his mom while he was in the basement.

Feeding time came around and mom did not bring down the hot pockets according the regular schedule and he peeked his head above ground.

Said, "Hi. I'm from the company you were trying to hack. By the way your Mom is quite talented. Going to be around more often"

Got him back good

[spaceman375]

One morning our net was SLOW. Turned out most of our 200+ computers were participating in a DOS attack on a computer in Texas. We traced back where the infection started, checked the logs on that computer, and found the source.

Then we called his mother.

She unplugged his PC and told us she'd deal with him when he got home from school.

Re:Got him back good

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

You had logs and were still penetrated? What OS has logs and gets penetrated?

Well, if you're talking back doors, penetration, and encountering logs,you're probably talking OSX!

Strike Back tech

[GremlinInExile]

http://xkcd.com/538/

Look out for the ICE!

[Geoffrey.landis]

Obviously, they're in the process of developing Gibson's black ICE!
We should be afraid.

Re:MyCleanPC is fraudware

[Mashiki]

Well, I found your post insightful and informative. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter good sir.

Re:Limited Nuclear strike

[0123456]

It's the only way to be sure...

Re:Companies are known to strike back

[Taco Cowboy]

SoF is but one of the many venues that you can find "private contractors", and they come with all kinds of "skill sets"

Re:Companies are known to strike back

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Might one contact such "private contractors" via Soldier Of Fortune magazine?

You want the best, right? A few years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire them.

Fun with script kiddies

[rossz]

A rather incompetent script kiddie kept trying to hack one of my servers some years ago. Poking back, I found he had left the entire C: drive on his windows box shared to the world. So I dropped a gift into his startup directory. Yeah, not much of a story.

Re:Companies are known to strike back

[Tastecicles]

heh... I've had police approach me for forensic recoveries, each and every time I've told them they couldn't afford me.

Fucking useless wankers.

Re:It's up to /.

[drkim]

Perhaps we could use something called "active defense" or "strike-back" technology to fight these MCPC floods?

Ooops. Sorry guys, that put us accidentally back on-topic.

Carry on...