The Dark Matter is Hostile. The Internet's "Dark Matter" pops online long enough to send spam, launch attacks, then vanishes.
The specifications that govern the way routers co-ordinate to ensure the net keeps running are unfortunately susceptible to subversion by those who are determined enough.
Routers can be made to pose as particular net addresses and be used to launch barrages of data at other target sites.
"The sheer quantity of routing information, coupled with the lack of security both in routers and the routing protocol itself create an infrastructure that is increasingly unwieldy and vulnerable," said Craig Labovitz, lead researcher on the Arbor Network study.
Other parts of the internet, mainly sites used by the US military, are lost because they use old addresses that no router references anymore.
