What if there were a flaw so fundamental to the Internet, that one person could hack into anything and everything? Imagine that one person could gain access to every single piece of email, every single bank account login ID and password. If it were possible, that person would have unimaginable power over the entire world's web commerce. There would be no security. There would be no stability, and markets would come crashing down all over the world, causing economic ruin to dwarf what's happening in today's markets. A person with this power would be able to hold the world hostage in a way no Bond villain ever could.

The crazy thing is that this is no hypothetical exercise, this is no Tom Clancy story line. This flaw in the Internet actually existed, and it was discovered by a lone computer consultant working out of his apartment. The events that transpired tell the tale of how this man found the flaw and decided to engage the help of the DNS community to work in secret to find a way to fix the flaw. It was a race against time to find a fix and patch the Internet before it was too late.

In an article titled "Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends the World Wide Web," Wired Magazine online tells the story of how this disaster scenario nearly came true. It's a fascinating read that sounds like the stuff great suspense movies are made of. Only it came that close to actually happening.

- Hap