![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/rousseau.jpg\")
WASHINGTON (AP) – Researchers uncovered a serious flaw in the underlying
\n technology for nearly all Internet traffic, a discovery that led to an
\n urgent and secretive international effort to prevent global disruptions
\n of Web surfing, e-mails and instant messages.<\/p>\n
The British government announced the vulnerability in core Internet technology
\non Tuesday. Left unaddressed, experts said, it could allow hackers to knock computers
\noffline and broadly disrupt vital traffic-directing devices, called routers,
\nthat coordinate the flow of data among distant groups of computers.<\/p>\n
"Exploitation of this vulnerability could have affected the glue that holds
\nthe Internet together," said Roger Cumming, director for England’s National
\nInfrastructure Security Coordination Centre.<\/p>\n
The Homeland Security Department issued its own cyberalert hours later that attacks "could
\naffect a large segment of the Internet community." It said normal Internet
\noperations probably would resume after such attacks stopped.<\/p>\n
The risk was similar to Internet users "running naked through the jungle,
\nwhich didn’t matter until somebody released some tigers," said Paul Vixie
\nof the Internet Systems Consortium Inc.<\/p>\n
Doesn’t sound so bad, except for the part about the big kitties….<\/i><\/p>\n
from AP<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON (AP) – Researchers uncovered a serious flaw in the underlying technology for nearly all Internet traffic, a discovery that led to an urgent and secretive international effort to prevent global disruptions of Web surfing, e-mails and instant messages. The … Continue reading