ISPA calls on service providers to join forces against hackers

The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) plans to adjust its code of practice this autumn to include advice on coping with hackers.

The news comes after a spate of attacks on Internet Service Provider (ISP) servers. Hackers gained access to Compuweb's server this weekend, and in Sweden, an 18 year old boy stole 3,000 customer passwords from Telia's secure Web site last Thursday.

ISPA chief executive, David Kennedy, told Silicon News that the association has drawn up a draft code of best practice agreement in which it insists its members cooperate with each other when dealing with hackers.

He said: "As one ISP becomes aware of a hacker it can inform other ISPs which can then draw on that information to protect themselves." He added that only by pulling together and sharing the information will ISPs be strong enough to defend themselves against the growing number of hackers attacking them.

However, Adam Daum, analyst at Inteco, does not believe a code of best practice would be taken seriously by the industry. "It is a good recommendation but it would have to be a voluntary code of practice to share information, and in a rapidly growing market there isn't much co-operation because there is too much competition."

The proposal is yet to be agreed by its members, but Kennedy insisted it is likely to get the go ahead.