Feds address Web threats

The pursuit to combat Internet security threats was in full force in Washington, D.C., last Tuesday.

President Clinton met with industry executives from 30 companies February 15 to discuss how the government, software and hardware manufacturers, and service providers could better share information to make the Internet more secure.

The meeting focused on how vendors can more effectively notify each other about security threats and share best practices and new technologies, says participant Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America. While no formal decisions were made, participants plan to meet again soon to develop forums in which they can exchange information if need be, he says.

On Wednesday at a Senate panel, Attorney General Janet Reno and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh testified that they are tracking fast-developing leads in the government's case to find those responsible for the denial-of-service attacks that plagued the Internet earlier this month.

The FBI is working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to try to find a hacker known as "mafiaboy." Authorities are also trying to track down a U.S. hacker known as "coolio."

While law enforcement authorities have confiscated some equipment from university sites that were used as staging areas for some of the denial-of-service attacks, the authorities seem to be relying more heavily on interviews with known hackers. Apparently the complicated logs that track incoming and outgoing 'Net traffic were not recording this information in enough detail to make them very useful in tracking the Web site attackers.

- Denise Pappalard