What makes cyberattacks so hard to trace?   South Korean
authorities said Thursday that the attack, which shut down
scores of cash machines and hampered business, had been traced
to an "Internet Protocol" address in China. But that doesn't
mean the attack was launched from there. The general assumption
in South Korea is that the attack originated in North Korea.
However, that computer could have been controlled from
elsewhere, either because someone bought access to it, or
because it's been infected with malicious software. To determine
the location from which it's being controlled, investigators
would need access to that computer, or to the records of the
company hosting the computer. That's unlikely to be forthcoming
from a Chinese company.  "China is obviously a popular place to
hide things," said Dan Holden, director of security research at
Arbor Networks' Security Engineering & Response Team. Chinese
authorities are difficult to work with, and there's a language
barrier, he said.  In addition, China is