sysadmin ethics after security breach

List, Assuming you can positively identify the origin of a successful crack (and that's a big assumption considering drones, spoofing, etc.) what does the community of sysadmins think about vigilante justice? Should we just counter-strike if there is no legal recourse? As a young sysadmin, I am looking for a moral principle. Responding in a legal manner is what distinguishes us from the cracker, right? Still, I get very angry just thinking about the possibility of a successful attack on one of my systems. Any thoughts? Apologies if this seems off topic - but I am studying many of the popular attacks and as a result I am in the difficult position of knowing how to use them (as well as defend against them). Matt Hubbard