WASHINGTON (AP) - Security researchers are warning about a new variety of unusually powerful Internet attacks that can overwhelm popular Web sites and disrupt e-mails by exploiting the computers that help manage global Internet traffic.

First detected late last year, the new attacks direct such massive amounts of spurious data against victim computers that even flagship technology companies could not cope. In one of the early cases examined, the unknown assailant apparently seized control of an Internet name server in South Africa and deliberately corrupted its contents.

Name servers are specialized computers that help direct Internet traffic to its destinations.

The attacker then sent falsified requests to the compromised directory computer, which unleashed overwhelming floods of amplified data aimed wherever the attacker wanted.

Experts traced at least 1,500 attacks that briefly shut down commercial Web sites, large Internet providers and leading Internet infrastructure companies during a period of weeks. The attacks were so targeted that most Internet users did not notice widespread effects.

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, a partnership with the Homeland Security Department, warned network engineers in December to properly configure their name servers to prevent hackers from using them in attacks. It called the attacks “troublesome” because name servers must operate to help direct Internet traffic.

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On the Net: Computer Emergency Readiness Team:

http://www.us-cert.gov/reading-;room/DNS-recursion121605.pdf