Hackers’ meet shows less tolerance to mischief

Elinor Abreu

LAS VEGAS: Judging by the attendees at the world's largest underground

Internet security convention, which concluded here on Sunday, hackers are

getting less tolerant of mischief as they get older.

The DefCon conference, in its ninth year, attracted an estimated 5,000

hackers, including so-called "white hat hacker" professionals who work

to secure corporate networks and "black hat hackers," those who try to

outsmart them.

DefCon, dominated by teenagers a few years ago, had its share of youngsters

this year, but seemed to attract more 20-and 30-year-olds than teens. In

addition, a survey conducted at DefCon last year and since indicates that

hackers who a few years ago were more accepting of virus writing are changing

their views.

"The majority of people are not tolerant of making viruses publicly

available on Web sites," said Sarah Gordon, a senior research fellow at

Symantec Corp., who conducted the survey. "Young people are getting the

message that it's not cool to release things out into the wild," she told

Reuters.

That assumption was borne out in an ethics contest at the convention modeled

after the hit television show "Survivor," which was won by 15-year-old

Anna Moore of Norman, Okla. "I want nothing to do with malicious virus

writers," she told Reuters. "They're lame."

Moore said she is a member of the local branch of the famed hacker group 2600

and that she enters robot-building contests with other home-schooled students

like herself. Although she said she is a typical computer-obsessed geek who has

been getting paid to do Web site design and security consulting said she still

has time to be a red belt in Taikwondo, play piano and rock climb.

When asked if she felt out of place among the many clad-in-black computer

fanatics, Moore replied: "Hackers come in all shapes, sizes and

flavors." The conference, billed as the "largest underground Internet

security gathering on the planet," had its share of discontents.

Some attendees complained about the "capitalization of the hacker

world" as they passed out pamphlets that encouraged people to sneak in to

the show to avoid the $50 entrance fee.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.