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Web expert on his 'catastrophe' key for the internet

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posted on Jul, 27 2010 @ 01:00 PM
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Web expert on his 'catastrophe' key for the internet


www.bbc.co.uk


A British computer expert has been entrusted with part of a digital key, to help restart the internet in the event of a major catastrophe.

Paul Kane talked to Eddie Mair on Radio 4's PM programme about what he might be called upon to do in the event of an international online emergency.
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline

[edit on 7/27/2010 by semperfortis]



posted on Jul, 27 2010 @ 01:00 PM
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Wow, this really surprised me. I apologise for the lack of other links, I think this strongly hints there really is an off switch, I also didn't know it would be just as simple as a "rebooting" - really?

The tone of the interview is quite jovial, typical of us (parochial) Brits, but still worrying.

As a sidenote the first time I tried to post this I got a DNS error "Server forbidden" which I've never seen before.

Has anyone else heard anything on this?



www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 27/7/1010 by jokei]

Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline

[edit on 7/27/2010 by semperfortis]



posted on Jul, 27 2010 @ 01:22 PM
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so does that mean he has a key to one of the DNS root zone resolving servers in gb/eu most of these systems are in the states like 7 of the 13 but something like 6 of them were attacked slowest day in
internet history



posted on Jul, 27 2010 @ 03:07 PM
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Seems like a nice "theatrical" measure being involved in BC/DR activities myself in my line of work.

In reality there are many other ways to restore these DNS servers I imagine. And unless they've killed the techies making this DNS SECROOT key it seems very idiotic to say the least.



posted on Jul, 27 2010 @ 03:44 PM
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Hmmm...

Wouldn't it take a very large, strategic attack to 'turn off' the Internet?

I could easily be wrong but I thought that the term 'Internet' doesn't describe a single entity, rather hundreds of small entities, ex. servers, satellites, cables, cell towers..., and to completely turn off the Internet wouldn't you have to effectively turn off all of the small entities. So in my mind it wouldn't be impossible, just highly improbably that something like this could be orchestrated? Imagine the resources you would need and the coordination all over the planet. I can understand 'turning off' parts of the Internet, but not all parts simultaneously.

In the linked article, he does say European region so possibly there are people like him all over the planet in different countries.

Of course I don't have much knowledge about how the 'Internet' really works, I also believe anything is possible...it would be truly sad if someone broke the Internet, infuriating if someone did it on purpose.



posted on Jul, 28 2010 @ 05:05 AM
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Originally posted by no special characters
Seems like a nice "theatrical" measure being involved in BC/DR activities myself in my line of work.

In reality there are many other ways to restore these DNS servers I imagine. And unless they've killed the techies making this DNS SECROOT key it seems very idiotic to say the least.


Hey man, thanks for that - could you go into a little more detail, so noobs like me can understand. Sorry and thanks (again).

It seemed a bit odd to me (as someone above mentioned), that there's an "on" switch, even if there are several of these world-wide, does the internet really come down to 20 or so actual locations that route everything else?




 
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