Daycody A New Beginning

The Key To The Internet

There had been rumors roaming around the net that there is a 'kill switch' that could power down the web if needed be, especially during an all out cyber attack. But this turns out to be blown out of proportion. But on that note, there are now what I would call the 'seven net guardians' who hold the responsibility to reboot the web in the aftermath of a cataclysmic cyber attack.

This program is overseen by the ones responsible for the Domain Name System Security, a security protocol that ensures Web sites are registered and “signed” (this is the security measure built into the Web that ensures when you go to a URL you arrive at a real site and not an identical pirate site). This non-military, non-government, non-profit watch group called ICANN(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), watches over the 'seven net guardians'.

Here's an excerpt from popsci:

A minimum of five of the seven keyholders – one each from Britain, the U.S., Burkina Faso, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, China, and the Czech Republic – would have to converge at a U.S. base with their keys to restart the system and connect eveything once again. We’re imagining a large medieval chamber filled with techno-religious imagery where these knights cyber must simultaneously turn hybrid thumb drive/skeleton keys in a massive router, filling the room with the blinking light of connectivity.

Well, in actuality, it's not that dramatic. But the truth is that,  those individual keys, will provide Captain Planet, just kidding. Those individual keys contain the root keys to rebooting the whole Web as know it. It's really interesting that a certain group of individuals hold it.

All we can do now is hope that something that bad does not happen. But, at some point in time, it surely will happen, that's why we have the 'seven net guardians'.

Digiknowzone is a blogger/contributor for DAYCODY.com.  You can visit his site here.