Vendors Work to Fix Bug that Could Crash the Internet

OK- that is total FUD. It reminds me of when my kids' computer has issues and he tells me that he "thinks he broke the Internet", or when one site works and another doesn't and he says "some of the Internets are working, but this Internet won't come up". But, I digress.

I did not mean to be sensationalist, or promote FUD. I struggled for quite a while with how to craft a headline that summarizes the issue without being a paragraph unto itself. The reality is that security researchers from Outpost24 have discovered a flaw which can allegedly affect Windows, Linux, firewalls, and other systems as well. There are not a lot of details, but it seems that the vulnerability is related to the core TCP/IP protocols that make up the backbone of communications on the Internet.

Affected vendors are researching the flaw and working on developing a fix. According to a Network World article about the issue, Microsoft has stated it is investigating the issue, but they are "unaware of any attacks trying to use the claimed vulnerability or of customer impact."

Robert Lee, Outpost24's Chief Security Officer, sums it up "The public message here is 'Chill out, the people who need to be involved are involved.'"