'Show-off' hackers to get busy this weekend

Companies are bracing themselves for a rise in denial of service attacks (DoS) this weekend as annual hacker event Defcon kicks off.

The ninth hackerfest, hosted in Las Vegas this year, is traditionally accompanied by a flurry of attacks on servers as the attendees and their peers demonstrate just what they can do.

Security experts claim that a well-publicised hack or DoS attack is one of the best ways of earning credibility amongst the hacker community.

Winn Schwartau, founder of security company Interpact and an authority on e-security, said the attempts are already on the increase.

He told silicon.com: "We're sure to witness an increase in new hacker attempts over the weekend, there are already signs of it happening."

Eric Chien, research director at security giant Symantec, said hackers thrive on peer recognition.

"Hackers gain respect from the community by launching a successful attack. Because it's a such a tight community, one successful attack can achieve a higher status for the individual among their peers," he said.

He said that to avoid being hacked, IT managers must be extra vigilant and ensure they have good protection in place.

Graham Cluley, technical consultant at anti-virus company Sophos, said virus writers, considered the bottom feeders in the hacker hierarchy, are keeping quiet at the moment.

"Instead of an increase in viruses found in the wild, we have actually seen a slight slowdown which is good news for companies," he said.

According to reports on US wires, Internet Relay Chat host Efnet became a target of a series of DoS attacks earlier this week.