The search for the hackers who broke into the Pentagon system last month has ended in an anticlimax - Analyzer, the ?mastermind? of the attack, turns out to be Ehud Tenebaum, an 18-year old computer freak from Israel. Meanwhile, hacker gang The Enforcers is threatening a round of retaliatory attacks.

Tenebaum is under arrest after being picked up by the Israeli police, but as yet no charges have been filed. He is suspected of breaking into hundreds of US government and other servers in February. It is unclear whether the US will ask for his extradition.

In February, in the middle of the latest Iraq crisis, the Department of Defence suddenly announced that it was experiencing what it called "the most organised and systematic attack the Pentagon has seen to date". A few days later, the FBI picked up two California teens, aged 15 and 16. Their hacker names were Makaveli and TooShort. Makaveli has referred to Analyzer as his mentor.

?To think that an 18-year old kid in Israel can break into 800 servers in the US, that should be a wake-up call," said John Vranesevich, a man who has been in close contact with the hackers involved. Vranesevich, a freshman student at the University of Pittsburg, created an organisation called AntiOnline, aimed at raising public awareness of security issues.

John Vranesevich became the unofficial spokesperson for the world?s hackers when Makaveli, one of the two US hackers involved in the Pentagon attack, called him to correct some errors that had been printed about him. He has published a transcript of the call on his Web site, at http://www.antionline.com. The transcript has Makaveli describing Analyzer as ?the best hacker that ever was?.

Vranesevich claims that Analyzer himself called him on the phone just two days before his arrest in Israel.

According to Vranesevich, Analyzer broke into the Pentagon computer ? and other servers ? out of curiosity. But he said the same technology can be used for truly hostile attacks. He told 'VNU Newswire' that Analyzer was "definitely in the 'genius' category".

Vranesevich claimed the US authorities were right to take the case seriously, and pursue the hackers. He said the risk of being captured and locked up is the only thing that can keep hackers from attempting brake-ins. ?There are at least hundreds, maybe thousands of people in the US that could have done this," said Vranesevich. ?[Analyzer] dared to do it, because he was in Israel, a country with wich the US has no extradition agreement.?

A number of hacker organisations are reportedly planning to retaliate for the arrest of Analyzer by hacking more government servers. One of these organisations, known as The Enforcers, claims that Analyzer was one of its members.