Experts discover major Internet flaw

LOS ANGELES, July 9 (UPI) -- U.S. security experts have discovered a major flaw in the design of the Internet's address system that affects virtually every corporate computer network.

The flaw in the Domain Name System could allow hackers to steer most people using corporate networks to malicious Web sites, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

So far, hackers haven't taken advantage of the flaw, and the security experts say every major software company affected is in the process of issuing patches to fix the problem.

The man who discovered the flaw, Dan Kaminsky of the Seattle-based security firm IOActive Inc., says he hopes the patches will be broad enough that hackers won't be able to reverse-engineer them.

"We got lucky in this particular bug, because it's a design flaw," says Kaminsky. "It shows up in everyone's network, but the fix is a design fix that doesn't point directly at what we're improving."

Kaminsky says it took only a couple of hours to find the flaw but fixing it will take several months.