[Tom] Wingfield and James Bret Michael, a computer scientist at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, argue that surveillance on computer networks and other forms of intelligence can often provide the clues needed to expose a potential hacker, and this exposure may often serve as enough of a deterrent.
“With public deterrence, you shine a light on a malefactor before he attacks or soon after–so it’s visible to the press and the public and his own people. In some cases that’s the right answer,” Michael said. “In others, you can use a nonpublic approach.”
“Sometimes just being identified is enough to prevent an attack from taking place, because hackers depend on anonymity and surprise to succeed,” Michael says. And such methods can work no matter how the underlying attack technologies advance.