There was also support for one of the added security features proposed, which was that .uk sites would all be DNSSEC-signed (Domain Name System Security Extensions), making them harder to hack.

BBC: Shorter .uk web address idea shelved by Nominet

Dan Kaminsky, the security researcher who found a major flaw in the domain name system in 2008 and recently founded a new company devoted to securing Web applications, says that a rickety session management system combined with a record number of users led to the tangled logins.

FORBES: AT&T's iPhone Preorder Security Mayhem Likely Caused By 'Session Exhaustion'

In July, security researcher Dan Kaminsky revealed a flaw in the Web's domain name system, or DNS, the protocol that connects a Web site's name with its physical location on the Internet.

FORBES: Dangerous Cybersilence

Ken Silva, the security chief at VeriSign, which runs big chunks of the internet's domain-name system, advocates defences at the core of the network to tackle malicious data-packets before they reach their target.

ECONOMIST: Cyberwarfare