"Exploitation of this vulnerability could have affected the glue that holds the Internet together," said Roger Cumming, director for England's National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre.

The flaw affecting the Internet's "transmission control protocol," or TCP, was discovered late last year by a computer researcher in Milwaukee. Paul Watson said he identified a method to reliably trick personal computers and routers into shutting down electronic conversations by resetting the machines remotely.

The public announcement coincides with a presentation Watson expects to make Thursday at an Internet security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Watson said he would disclose full details of his research.  Watson predicted that hackers would understand how to begin launching attacks "within five minutes of walking out of that meeting."