You don't have to buy 40 computers, and you don't have to break into 40 computers. The reason we haven't seen any attempts thus far is that I think the people who are doing this are saving it for New Year's Eve. Whoever might be planning the attack would hope to remain anonymous, since the flood of data would come from many computers on which the hackers would hope to leave no cyber-fingerprints. And the hacker could do it from anywhere. A hacker with the right software can probe a computer for clues about its vulerability to intrusion or manipulation.
Hackers steal information, they alter Web sites.
They crash computers or jam networks. They do it for fun, for profit or to make a political statement. But in this case, hackers seem uninterested in information - other than the whereabouts of vulnerable computers to be used in clogging other lines. First, the hackers' are aiming at Macs, commonly found in homes. And a firewall will not afford protection if the attack comes and the flood of data chokes the lines before they get to the firewall itself.