Monday February 14, 2011
Have You Tried Turning It Off & On Again?
How to Crash The Internet
Researchers have developed a way to crash the entire Internet in principle.
By exploiting a fundamental protocol used by routers, the technique could make previous cyberattacks look insignificant.
From New Scientist:
Schuchard's new attack pits the structure of the internet against itself. Hundreds of connection points in the net fall offline every minute, but we don't notice because the net routes around them. It can do this because the smaller networks that make up the internet, known as autonomous systems, communicate with each other through routers. When a communication path changes, nearby routers inform their neighbours through a system known as the border gateway protocol (BGP). These routers inform other neighbours in turn, eventually spreading knowledge of the new path throughout the internet.
Posted in: Net by bubblejam at 03:59 PM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry