It appears that there is a "leak" in the TCP which could
affect all networked computers:
The flaw affecting the
Internet's "transmission control protocol," or TCP, was
discovered late last year by a computer researcher in
Milwaukee. Paul Watson said he identified a method to
reliably trick personal computers and routers into
shutting down electronic conversations by resetting the
machines remotely.
Experts previously
said such attacks could take between four years and 142
years to succeed because they require guessing a
rotating number from roughly 4 billion possible
combinations. Watson said he can guess the proper number
with as few as four attempts, which can be accomplished
within seconds.
Routers
continually exchange important updates about the most
efficient traffic routes between large networks.
Continued successful attacks against routers can cause
them to go into a standby mode, known as "dampening,"
that can persist for
hours.
