Shielding Cyber-Society

With disturbing ease, hackers this week were able to sabotage more than half a dozen Internet Web sites that account for much of America’s e-commerce. Today, shutting down EBay might cause only inconvenience to consumers and some expense to the company, but as the importance of the Web to the economy grows, such attacks could have a devastating national effect. This is a challenge that industry and the government should deal with jointly and immediately.

This week’s electronic assaults by unknown hackers targeted some of the biggest names in e-commerce, including Yahoo, EBay, ETrade, Amazon and Buy.com, overwhelming their Web sites and denying access to legitimate users. This sort of sabotage is damaging but hasn’t yet reached the proportions of the infamous Morris Worm, a virus that in 1998 hit the computer network that forms the backbone of the Internet.

The FBI’s National Infrastructure Protection Center warned last December that programs capable of disrupting large Web sites were readily available and said it had developed software to identify and block them. The agency then put the blocking software on its Web site. Companies will certainly listen more closely now.

A great deal of the Internet’s vulnerability to hackers stems from its enabling technology, or Internet protocol, which is more than 20 years old and needs updating. A more secure version is under development.

Clearly, it is the responsibility of e-companies to make sure that their systems are as secure as possible. The recent attacks were carried out through unprotected computers connected to large networks, including some smaller Internet service providers that became unwitting participants in the attacks. They too must do more to prevent unauthorized access.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno promised that fighting Internet vandalism will be a top priority. She should instruct federal prosecutors to enforce the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to its fullest. The latest series of vandalism is a far cry from hackers who merely post a boastful message.

Federal enforcement will help assure the security of the Internet. But users have the biggest role in developing rules of Internet citizenship. That includes both securing their own domains against misuse and reporting problems quickly so that others may avoid invasion. As we see the Internet become part of everyday life, the rules should be clearer; just as we don’t accept obscene use of the telephone or taking weapons aboard airplanes, we must crack down on Internet sabotage.