A team of U.S. and European computer security researchers have used a cluster of several hundred Sony PlayStation 3 video-game machines to exploit a basic weakness in the software system used to protect commercial transactions made via the Internet. The attack is possible because a handful of commercial organizations that provide components of the basic security infrastructure of the Internet are using an older security technology " despite years of warnings that it is now potentially obsolete. The flaw would make it possible for a criminal to redirect a Web surfer to a fake bank or online merchant without being detected by the security mechanism embedded in today’s Web browsers. It could also be used to subvert e-mail communications and other applications that use cryptographic software for authentication and security.

The demonstration underscores that the commercial infrastructure, as well as the privacy and security, of the Internet are based on an advanced branch of mathematics that in the future may become vulnerable to more powerful computing systems and more clever attackers. Today’s browsers display a tiny image of a padlock when a user has a secure connection to a Web site. This is intended to provide evidence that the Web site is legitimate, as the browser and the site exchange digital certificates provided by a Certificate Authority" a trusted third party. Researchers have proven they can create fake certificates that will be accepted by the security system.

I had not heard anything about this. Does anyone happen to know if they have had an actual problem with peoples information getting stolen yet? Thanks.

I've looked and looked and so far there is nothing to suggest that this is anything more than a theory. There is no information stolen as yet.

I work in internet security from time to time and while I have also heard of this in theory i have yet to encounter it in the wild. If it happens, it's very very rare.

That makes me feel better. It's good to know that the tech people haven't been bombarded with this.

Nope...not by a long shot. I've not had a single case or even a question asked of me about this issue.

This is really a rare case. As an internet security agent, I find hard time to decode this iNet exploit.