In some cases, attacks on government sites have yielded retaliation. In at least one instance, the Pentagon responded to a Web attack by redirecting participants' browsers to a page that downloaded an applet program to their computers. Once installed, the program endlessly tied up their computers trying to reload a document until they rebooted. In a similar action against the site of Mexico's president, the government retaliated with software that crashed protesters' browsers. For companies or organizations that believe they may become potential targets, the safest route may be to take preventative measures.
Logs are like fingerprints.
They're like an electronic trail, and they make it a lot easier for us to investigate. Dan Lambert, a spokesman for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, says the agency is monitoring the potential for politically motivated online attacks. From a legal perspective, it doesn't matter if the action is for a good cause or if a participant is just one of many.