Striking back against a computer that is attacking you may be illegal under U.S. law, but a security researcher says people should be allowed to neutralize one that is unwittingly spreading destructive Internet worms such as Nimda.. . .

Striking back against a computer that is attacking you may be illegal under U.S. law, but a security researcher says people should be allowed to neutralize one that is unwittingly spreading destructive Internet worms such as Nimda.

"Arguably the biggest threat the Internet faces today is the propagation of a big worm," said Timothy Mullen, chief information officer of AnchorIS, at the Defcon hacker conference here.

Worms are a form of self-propagating virus that, once set in motion, can wreak havoc by taking control of other machines. Once the virus has claimed a PC, it can then use the machine to launch attacks on the wider Internet.

"The next worm is going to happen, and it's going to be worse," Mullen said.

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