IP: Experts Say Key Internet Servers Vulnerable to Attack

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

<http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-icann-security.html?toda>Click 
here: Experts Say Key Internet Servers Vulnerable to Attack

November 13, 2001

Experts Say Key Internet Servers Vulnerable to Attack

By REUTERS906495d.jpg

Filed at 11:13 p.m. ET
MARINA DEL REY, Calif. (Reuters) - It would not take much for a malicious 
hacker to shut down the Internet, researchers at a meeting of the body that 
oversees Web address allocation warned on Tuesday.
An attack designed to flood the Web's master directory servers with traffic 
``is capable of bringing down the Internet,'' Paul Vixie, a speaker at the 
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) annual meeting, 
told Reuters.
After the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, non-profit 
corporation ICANN pushed other agenda items aside to concentrate the 
discussion on ways to keep the Internet safe.
Adding to the impetus for the change in focus were the Code Red and Nimda 
Internet worms, which cast more attention on network security issues.
Researchers said they were worried malicious hackers could attack the 13 
``root'' servers that direct computers to Web addresses, or domain names, 
or the 10 top-level domain servers, all of which serve as a kind of 
directory for the Internet.

<snip>

ICANN Chairman Vint Cerf dismissed the concerns, saying board members need 
to hear about the technical issues from engineers to know what 
recommendations to make.
``For policymakers this is a valuable opportunity to have access to this 
kind of primary source input,'' Cerf said.
In addition to engineers, other attendees and even Cerf said they were 
concerned about ICANN going beyond its scope, with some asking the group to 
formally restate its mission and even restructure.