It's 8 a.m., morning rush hour in New York. People and cars move slowly and somewhat irritably toward the city. Suddenly, the power goes down and traffic lights cease working. Everything comes to a complete stop.

Meanwhile, half a country away, the water system malfunctions in Detroit. Then, in Dallas, air traffic becomes dangerously chaotic as guidance systems go offline.

On the surface, it seems like a series of unconnected events. But information security experts say it could also be the sign of a terrorist cyber-attack-well-coordinated, extremely effective, and so anonymous it leaves its targets not quite sure what happened.

While the above situation has never taken place, many industry experts say it could. In fact, they're somewhat surprised it hasn't already.

The U.S. government and U.S. businesses know that developing an effective response to cyber-terrorism is essential. This, at least, is the first step, even though they have a long way to go in addressing the problem (Tom Regan, The Christian Science Monitor, July 1, 1999).