My perspective is that ingenuity and ability to address serious flaws in IT related areas does not necessarily require sophisticated resources to be highly damaging.
The fact that the US could direct resources to cripple the delivery layer for the internet isn’t surprising, but the underlying ability to wreak havoc on our infrastructure shouldn’t be pooh-poohed because NK is technologically backward with respect to IT infrastructure.
From my perspective, one good directed sustained moderate-tech attack against our financial systems (e.g., stock market) would be disastrous.
IF this is evidence of retaliation by the US government on behalf of Sony Corporation, then what is going to happen to the central position that the US has enjoyed until now? Obama might see this as a “proportional response”, but you can bet the rest of the world doesn’t see it that way.