Just because no apparent DDoS attacks hit credit unionsWednesday doesn't mean hackers didn't progress toward their goal ofcrippling U.S. financial services targets, said Brian McGinley, CEOof data risk management firm IDT911 Consulting.

While McGinley stressed it was purely speculation on his part,he said when criminals – especially hackers from the groupAnonymous – say there are going to do something, sooner or later itusually happens.

“This could have been a test to see what would happen so theycould plan their real attack,” he said.

McGinley likened cyber warfare to a game of chess, in which U.S.targets react to warnings by taking precautionary measures. Inresponse, hackers could use information about defensive methodsused on Tuesday to develop a countermove.

“It almost plays out as a dialogue between the good guys and thebad guys … there's gamesmanship going on in the cyber world as itrelates to criminal activity,” he said.

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None of IDT911 Consulting's clients experienced any hackingattempts out of the ordinary Tuesday, McGinley said, adding thatthe attacks weren't thwarted, they just never came.

He said he had heard what other IT security experts have toldnews outlets or posted on blogs, that it's likely suspectedIran-based hacker groups like the al-Qassam Cyber Fighters, whichhave claimed responsibility for attacks on banks and some largecredit unions, did not participate in the threatened May 7attacks.

While the May 7 attacks appear to have been unorganized andbroad based, the Iranian Cyber Fighters tend to be “more controlledand measured,” he said.

CUNA Spokesman Pat Keefe said his trade association, which wasthe first to alert credit unions to the May 7 attacks, said CUNAwas relieved there were few, if any, attacks.

“We had acknowledged from the beginning that there certainly wasthe possibility that no threat would, in fact, materialize,” Keefesaid.

“But we continue to strongly believe maintaining the trust ofmembers in the security of their credit unions is worth the effortof advising credit unions of risks to them and their members. Infact, if our cautions to credit unions played any role indiminishing a threat, so much the better,” Keefe said.