Cyber Scare Could Be Warning Shot

This week's crude and fairly ineffective attacks on U.S. and South Korean Web sites were a minor event, network experts said, but could represent a warning shot portending much more serious threats to worldwide communications and commerce on the Internet. James Lewis, a cybersecurity scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted the paradox in the attacks - that they were well-coordinated and broad in scope, but very limited in their aims. If they were the work of the North Korean government or affiliated forces, as South Korean officials suspect, said Lewis, it seems that the real purpose might have been to get the attention of foreign governments.