New figures show a marked decrease in the number of global web site defacements after the 11 September terrorist attacks on New York.
The number of web sites defaced globally has risen four-fold to 30,388 in 2001 from 7,629 in 2000. However, the number of defacements in September fell sharply to 815 from 3,853 in May.
The company that compiled the figures, London-based mi2g, said this could be a result of the US Department of Justice linking hacking to terrorism through the Surveillance and Anti-terrorism Bill submitted to Congress on 19 September 2001.
The UK Government's Terrorism Act 2000, in which the disruption of key computer systems was classified as terrorism, has also played a part in heightening awareness within the hacking community.
Mi2g specialises in secure intranets and extranets, digital communities and data warehouses for clients mainly from the banking, insurance and reinsurance sectors.
The company said that web site defacements could not be dismissed as electronic graffiti. It added that where web site defacement had become public knowledge, in some instances there had been a significant decline in share price, loss of earnings and reputation as well as a dent in customer confidence.
The company said most hacking took place because of incomplete security policy and implementation. The best way to ward off the threat from hackers was to keep the personnel policy and systems security architecture continuously up-to-date, it said.
