CircleID

Researchers at a Finnish security firm Outpost 24 claim to have discovered a flaw in the Internet Protocol that can disrupt any computer or server. After keeping the flaw quiet for years, the researchers hope that going public will help accelerate the creation of a solution, according to PC World Australia.

The flaw enables attackers to bring computers and servers to a halt by sending a few specially formed TCP/IP packets. The result can be compared to a denial of service attack (DDoS), in which networks are flooded with traffic. However in this case only minimal amount of traffic is required. "We're talking 10 packets per second to take down one service," Jack Lewis, a senior researcher with Outpost24.

Read full story: PC World

See related topics: Internet Protocol, Security