GA Tech: Internet's Mid-Layers Vulnerable To Attack

An anonymous reader writes "Evolution has ossified the middle layers of the Internet, leaving it vulnerable but security breaches could be countered by diversification of protocols, according to Georgia Tech, which recommends new middle layer protocols whose functionality does not overlap, thus preventing 'unnatural selection.' Extinction sucks, especially when it's my favorite protocols like FTP."

Comments

Really? Why not link to the original paper?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's the very first Google hit, is still on a public server, and doesn't obviously distort the conclusions like TFSA in an effort to get more clicks. A+ for poorly crafted summaries, Slashdot.

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~sakhshab/evoarch.pdf

Re:ossified?

[JMZero]

No - the figurative sense of ossified is correct and common. Petrified is usually used figuratively to mean something like "scared stiff". Ossified, in common figurative use, means that something has become stiff and inflexible (often through disuse or rot) - like tissue that has become bone.

If you check a reasonable dictionary (eg. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/ossify_1?q=ossified) you'll find this definition.