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Ian Hopper CNN Interactive Technology Editor ATLANTA (CNN) -- The FBI has begun rolling out its InfraGard program, designed to promote understanding and a better relationship among IT professionals and law enforcement. It is creating local chapters to share security information, increase interaction and disseminate alerts. InfraGard is just one portion of a larger plan to tackle computer crimes as networks become more valuable to international commerce and carry more important information. It began as a pilot project out of the Cleveland field office of the FBI, spawned from an executive order signed in 1996. It's administered through the FBI and the National Infrastructure Protection Center, another relatively new outfit begun by presidential order in 1998. At the launch of the Atlanta InfraGard chapter, Ted Jackson, agent-in-charge of the Atlanta FBI field office explained how serious computer crime is to authorities. INTERACTIVE Click here to see how a Denial of Service attack works. MESSAGE BOARD 124 Insurgency 125 Hackers 126 Bracing for Cyberwar 127 Hacking Primer 128 Hacking: Two Views 129 Timeline 130 Gallery 131 Discussion 132 TIME: Counterhacking 101 133 Related Sites "This is the new form of terrorism. Someone involved in attacking your system can cause more problems than bombs," Jackson said. Then, Internet Security Systems CEO Tom Noonan detailed how independent security companies can watch over a company's networks, and a federal prosecutor described his role in a computer crime investigation. This initiative is seen as a way of getting over the biggest problem in computer crime law enforcement: the idea of the government as intrusive troublemakers. The bureau now wants to approach the companies before they're victims, so it's not a cold contact. They get to know you and trust you," says Jim Williams, a former FBI Computer Intrusion Squad agent, now working as an attorney in Chicago. Unsteady beginnings This plan of breaking down walls is a far cry from 10 years ago, when authorities were just breaking down doors. On March 1, 1990, Secret Service agents made an unexpected visit to the offices of Steve Jackson Games, a pioneering pencil-and-paper roleplaying game company best known for their AutoDuel and GURPS titles. At the time, the company was working on a new game called GURPS Cyberpunk. However, the mere mention of hackers set off warning bells with authorities. Authorities later revealed that they had been watching the activities of game writer Loyd Blankenship since he began talking to security experts and self-described hackers in research for the game. Due to the raid, SJ Games "very nearly closed its doors," according to the company, and only survived after laying off half its employees. SJ Games won a suit against the Secret Service, receiving over $300,000 in damages and attorney's fees. Also, inspired from the actions of authorities, the Electronic Frontier Foundation was born. The advocacy group is dedicated to free expression over the Internet. Looking back on the incident, Steve Jackson holds few grudges but just wishes the authorities would have been more forthcoming. They just assumed that everyone here was some sort of bad guy, and clearly they looked at the raid itself as our punishment," he says. As a former FBI agent Williams says, it was difficult in 1990 to be able to justify taking tech investigations more seriously and learning more about them. The first dedicated FBI computer crime squads began in the mid-1990s, says Williams. But as violent crime has dropped and computer crime has risen - as well as the increased value of data - the FBI has devoted more resources to technology. But with so many demands on the modern agent, the FBI still has difficulties with attracting people with the right mix of skills. New agents are dedicated to their job, and think the work that they do outweighs more material concerns. The bureau has also had some great recruitment successes, even attracting a former Microsoft employee for their San Francisco bureau. Still a long way to go In fact, the agents can be even more knowledgeable than the systems administrators. President Clinton's recent call for tuition breaks for computer science students who agree to serve in a government computer security organization should help the ranks, but it's hard to keep the bureau competitive. April 7, 2000 136 Government computers: The ultimate hackers' proving ground March 23, 2000 137 Justice Dept.
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