A report that was written by James A. Lewis (a representative of the Center for Strategic and International Studies) alleges that the fairly recent hacker attacks aimed at South Korea and the United States was a precursor of things to come. The cyber doomsday article succinctly claims that the Internet allows anonymous attacks, which encourages organizations and individuals with vested interests in crippling the U.S.'s information infrastructure to look into cyber warfare as a viable terrorist method.

The report also raised a series of relevant and worrisome queries concerning the implications of the aforementioned security assaults, which include: Which countries now possess global-scale cyber attacking abilities that could be launched against the U.S.? What are the chances of cyber terrorism of that magnitude happening? How quickly will these hacking resources be available for purchase to the highest bidder on the black market?

The failure of attribution and responsibility that cyberspace allows both users and hackers alike to enjoy leads to several suppositions as well.

• Many concepts (such as proportional response, preemption, and deterrence) must be modified, adjusted, or altogether replaced when it comes to tackling security within the ever-ambiguous worldwide web.

• Anonymity and doubt are the dominant features of a hacker attack in terms of the potential consequences on the targeted victim, the scope of collateral damage, and the acknowledgment of an attacker's true identity.

• There is neither a satisfactory dictionary of terms to describe cyberspace-based conflict nor an adequate enough policy framework to control it.

Lewis agrees with the claims that the most recent incidents only utilized the most basic kind of Internet-based assault, and acknowledges that there are worse and more sophisticated cyber attacks yet to come. He believes that this is the case because the present political situation has not warranted an advanced level of cyber attack from nations that are capable of doing so and because the majority of virtual villains and online outlaws lack the necessary requirements to realize the full potential of virtual terrorism.

Lewis estimates that at present, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Russia, and China are the only countries with the ability to launch the superior form of cyber attack. He also forecasts that in just three years or less, these capabilities will become available on the black market.