Companies prepare defense against hackers during NATO summit

Behind the fear of protesters shutting down Chicago during this month's NATO summit lurks a more sinister threat: hackers.

Cyber criminals and "hacktivist" groups have disrupted recent international events, stealing and publishing private information and triggering network crashes by spamming websites of large corporations. Now some of Chicago's biggest companies are gearing up to defend against getting hacked while President Barack Obama hosts government leaders from two dozen nations here on May 20-21. 

"Hacktivism happens regularly, and unfortunately it may ramp up for the summit," said Brian Tishek, executive director of Chicago First, a local nonprofit coalition of 30 companies aimed at coordinating response plans to security threats. The group's members include major Chicago-based financial firms, such as Northern Trust Corp., CME Group Inc., Citadel LLC and MB Financial Inc.