North Korea is back online, but likely to retaliate, escalating war

North Korea is back online following a nine-hour disruption that literally removed the country from the internet. The disruption was so significant that many speculated it was part of a cyber-warfare exchange between North Korea and the United States.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Last week, Sony pictures was hacked, allegedly by North Korea in anticipation of the release of a film which depicts the assassination of Kim Jong Un. Sony is still reeling from the attack and Americans remain shocked that such an attack would cause a studio to halt the release of a major motion picture.

President Obama threatened to retaliate against North Korea for the alleged hack. Yesterday, as North Korea's internet began to shut down, speculation emerged that the United States was responsible and that we were witnessing a cyber-warfare exchange.

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Futurists predict that World War III will not be fought with bombs and tanks so much as with computers and hacking attacks. More cost-effective damage can be caused to infrastructure with hacking attacks than with manned bombers.

Cyber warfare isn't new. In 2010, the United States allegedly attacked Iran's nuclear program with a virus, known as Stuxnet, interfering with that nation's uranium enrichment activities.

And Russian hackers are believed to have attacked Georgian infrastructure, specifically the banking system in that state prior to a Russian invasion in 2008.

Still, cyber war is a new frontier in conflict. The massive NSA data center in Utah could also play a significant role in cyber warfare efforts. It is thought the facility may be capable of monitoring the majority of the world's web traffic in real time.

For now, North Korea's internet is reported as online, with intermittent outages. It seems the attacks which knocked it offline has largely come to a halt. What remains to be seen is who will take responsibility for the attack and if North Korea will retaliate in some way.

Meanwhile, corporate America is taking notice. Just as in any war, business infrastructure is also a target, and what happened to Sony last week threatens to become the new normal in cyberspace.

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