4. If you do happen to catch and charge them, the cost of prosecution is high, and a successful outcome is by no ways assured. There may be some deterrent value in at least catching and prosecuting? 5. Continued pursuit of people involved requires doors to be left open, this unfortunately exposes other sites and has subjected us to some criticism. The whole issue is very complex, and in some respects it is a case of diminishing returns. A fine balance has to be maintained between freedom, and the prevention of abuse, this appears to be the challenge. Allan Young RMIT `Yeah, I mean, this RMIT guy is basically saying they are not going to catch us anyway, so why are they wasting all this time and money?' `Yep. The Feds were in there for at least three months,' Prime Suspect said. `Sounded more like nine months though.' `Hmm. Yeah, nothing we didn't know already though.' `Pretty obvious, leaving those accounts open all the time like they did. I reckon that looked pretty suspicious, even if we hadn't gotten the email.' `Definitely,' Mendax agreed. `Lots of other hackers in RMIT too. I wonder if they figured it out.' `Hmm. They're gonna be screwed if they haven't been careful.' `I don't think the Feds have gotten anyone though.' `Yeah?' Prime Suspect asked. `Well, if they had, why would they leave those accounts open? Why would RMIT keep a full-time staff person on?' `Doesn't make sense.' `No,' Mendax said. `I'd be pretty sure RMIT has kicked them out.' `Yeah, told them, "You had you're chance, boys. Couldn't catch anyone. Now pack your bags".' `Right.' Mendax paused. `Don't know about NorTel though.' `Mmm, yeah,' Prime Suspect said. Then, as usual, a silence began to descend on the conversation. `Running out of things to say ...' Mendax said finally. They were good enough friends for him to be blunt with Prime Suspect. `Yeah.' More silence. Mendax thought how strange it was to be such good friends with someone, to work so closely with him, and yet to always run out of conversation. `OK, well, I better go. Things to do,' Mendax said in a friendly voice. `Yeah, OK. Bye Mendax,' Prime Suspect said cheerfully. Mendax hung up. Prime Suspect hung up. And the AFP stayed on the line. In the twelve months following the initial line trace in late 1990, the AFP continued to monitor the RMIT dial-up lines. The line traces kept failing again and again. But as new reports of hacker attacks rolled in, there seemed to be a discernible pattern in many of the attacks. Detectives began to piece together a picture of their prey.