Recently, a huge threat to DNS, the system that translates IP Addresses to unique names (and vice verce), creating URLs such as funkytower.com, has been discovered.  This threat would allow malicious users to impersonate almost any website on the Internet. 

This issue, obviously, is SERIOUS.  All nameservers need to be patched ASAP.  Updates are being released for a lot of different platforms because the problem is with with the DNS protocol, not a specific implementation.

The US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Response Team) wants help in getting the word out about this problem, which was made public in July, 2008.

So, my efforts are to show you a link from the US-CERT Website containing the alert itself to help inform you on the details.  So be sure to read it!

You may read it in its entirety here: http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/800113

Here you can find all of the details about the problem, including a list of systems that have been effected, many of which are companies we know and love who provied us with internet access, phones and phone services, and computers.  Microsoft, AT&T, and Apple are just a few.  These companies are taking measures to fix their DNS, however this is effecting some of our own experiences on the internet, and not in a positive way.  However, these problems are coming and gong so fast, it hardly comes to the attention to the average person that there might even be anything wrong.

The US-CERT has already done this, but I would personally like to thank Dan Kaminsky of IOActive for finding and revealing this dangerous flaw.  I would also like to thank Dan Kaminsky, the US-CERT, IOActive, and the people getting the word out about this problem for helping make the World Wide Web a safe, secure, and enjoyable place, and literally keeping it alive.