ationwide crackdown was coming, the hackers might simply vanish;
destroy the evidence, hide their computers, go to earth, and wait for
the campaign to blow over. Even the young hackers were crafty and
suspicious, and as for the professional grifters, they tended to split
for the nearest state-line at the first sign of trouble. For the
crackdown to work well, they would all have to be caught red-handed,
swept upon suddenly, out of the blue, from every corner of the compass.

And there was another strong motive for secrecy. In the worst-case
scenario, a blown campaign might leave the telcos open to a devastating
hacker counter-attack. If there were indeed hackers loose in America
who had caused the January 15 Crash--if there were truly gifted
hackers, loose in the nation's long-distance switching systems, and
enraged or frightened by the crackdown--then they might react
unpredictably to an attempt to collar them. Even if caught, they might
have talented and vengeful friends still running around loose.
Conceivably, it could turn ugly. Very ugly. In fact, it was hard to
imagine just how ugly things might turn, given that possibility.

Counter-attack from hackers was a genuine concern for the telcos. In
point of fact, they would never suffer any such counter-attack. But in
months to come, they would be at some pains to publicize this notion
and to utter grim warnings about it.

Still, that risk seemed well worth running. Better to run the risk of
vengeful attacks, than to live at the mercy of potential crashers. Any
cop would tell you that a protection racket had no real future.

And publicity was such a useful thing. Corporate security officers,
including telco security, generally work under conditions of great
discretion. And corporate security officials do not make money for
their companies. Their job is to PREVENT THE LOSS of money, which is
much less glamorous than actually winning profits.

If you are a corporate security official, and you do your job
brilliantly, then nothing bad happens to your company at all. Because
of this, you appear completely superfluous. This is one of the many
unattractive aspects of security work. It's rare that these folks have
the chance to draw some healthy attention to their own efforts.

Publicity also served the interest of their friends in law enforcement.
Public officials, including law enforcement officials, thrive by
attracting favorable public interest. A br