Most of the assaults on both sides have been relatively low-tech “denial of access” operations, the online equivalent of a rock-throwing machine that buries a site under masses of electronic “pings” or e-mail. But the threat of a more sophisticated attacks is high. Gilad Rabinovich, president of Israel’s leading Internet-service provider, NetVision, says hackers have tried “to infect the Internet backbone” of the country. He claims NetVision can retaliate and destroy any hostile Web site it wants within hours. “We won’t do it at this stage because we’re not in the business of war,” says Rabinovich. Perhaps not. But the battle clearly has begun.
