By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Updated North Korea's recent missile tests have alarmed Western nations worried about being attacked by an unstable nation.

But a recent cyber attack linked to North Korea shows just how much damage can be done without firing a single missile.

On Wednesday U.S. officials said the White House and New York Stock Exchange were among the targets of the assault, which shut down or slowed numerous computer systems.

With North Korea the main suspect, computer experts are pointing out that -- just because that country is poor and backwards in many ways -- it apparently could muster the capability of crippling vital communication links in the West.

Key Web sites in the United States and South Korea have been flooded with traffic in recent days. Others under assault were the U.S. Secret Service and the Treasury Department.

Cyber attacks in the United States are becoming more common. Amateur and professional hackers are breaking into government and business Web systems to either have a little fun or, more distressingly, disable key components of the sites.

One of the biggest worries when it comes to countries such as North Korea or China (another usual suspect in these kinds of cases) is that a cyber attack could harm or wipe out the ability of America to defend itself from attack.

It's a chilling possibility that's only likely to grow even more worrisome in the years to come.