[gonzo]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

They are referring to the DNS root servers. If you take them out, the internet still works, but you have no DNS service. Which for most people effectively renders it useless.

Also, they dont exactly only have 13 servers. There's 13 defined root servers, each one is highly clustered, fault tolerant and designed for high availability. They reside in 13 different locations ranging from DoD to University of Maryland to ICANN, etc.

The most recent attack never took them down but was large enough to induce some latency and make people re-evaluate ways to secure them. And these are some of the most highly defended servers on the planet.

The scary one is the one belonging to the Dept of Defense. An attack upon it is considered a cyber attack on the USA. With a Presidential order, a cyber counter attack can be authorized or even a bombing of the source of the attack.

Sounds harsh, but I can tell you first hand, counter attacks are VERY effective in making spammers, script kiddies, and even full on hackers go away and go bother someone who doesn't hit back.

Counter attacks are effecitve on spammers too.