Senior law enforcement officials assured technology executives Thursday that government will increasingly work to keep secret the names of companies that become victims to major hacking crimes, along with any sensitive corporate disclosures that could prove embarrassing.

The effort, described at a cybercrime conference in northern Virginia, is designed to encourage businesses to report such attacks and build public confidence in Internet security. Officials promised to use legal mechanisms, such as protective orders and sealed court filings, to shield corporate hacking victims from bad publicity.

``It's important for us to realize that you have certain concerns as victim companies that we have to acknowledge,'' FBI Director Robert Mueller said. He promised, for example, that FBI agents called to investigate hacking crimes will arrive at offices discretely without wearing official jackets with ``FBI'' emblazoned on them.

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