The DNSSEC root key has been divided among seven people:
Part of ICANN's security scheme is the Domain Name System Security, a security protocol that ensures Web sites are registered and "signed" (this is the security measure built into the Web that ensures when you go to a URL you arrive at a real site and not an identical pirate site). Most major servers are a part of DNSSEC, as it's known, and during a major international attack, the system might sever connections between important servers to contain the damage.
A minimum of five of the seven keyholders -- one each from Britain, the U.S., Burkina Faso, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, China, and the Czech Republic -- would have to converge at a U.S. base with their keys to restart the system and connect everything once again.
That's a secret sharing scheme they're using, most likely Shamir's Secret Sharing.
We know the names of some of them.
Paul Kane -- who lives in the Bradford-on-Avon area -- has been chosen to look after one of seven keys, which will 'restart the world wide web' in the event of a catastrophic event.
Dan Kaminsky is another.
I don't know how they picked those countries.
