Computer hackers shut down some of America's most popular Web sites by flooding them with fake page requests until the traffic overload caused them to crash. Early victims included top search engine Yahoo, auction powerhouse eBay and retailers Amazon and Buy. Cyber-security experts say such assaults are easy to launch and difficult to prevent.
Hackers can disguise the source of their rogue requests.
The attacks didn't involve data theft, and no one has yet estimated the dollar damage. But a commercial site that's 100 percent dependent on electronic sales can lose tens of millions in a few hours of down time - a serious setback in Webland, where most companies already lose money every month. Perhaps scarier, investors could get locked out of their on-line brokerage accounts for long periods. Instead, they're wearing pretty clothes and sometimes even flirting. Perhaps feeling safety in numbers, they seem to have abandoned that approach.