Internet2 Submits Comments to FCC on Secure Internet Routing

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Central to the internet’s global routing system, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is used to exchange reachability information among independently operated networks on the internet. Of the more than 75,000 BGP-interconnected networks that make up the public internet, Internet2 ranks 54th globally for interconnecting networks and hosts.

On February 28, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a notice of inquiry seeking comments on any steps that the commission should consider taking to help protect and strengthen the nation’s communications network and other critical infrastructure from vulnerabilities posed by BGP. The inquiry also included how the commission can best facilitate the implementation of industry standards and best practices to mitigate the potential harms posed by these vulnerabilities.

In response, Internet2 submitted comments in April on behalf of the U.S. research and education (R&E) networking community.

The key topics addressed in the filing include:

• Routing security requires collaboration along the hierarchy of network operators.
• Barriers to deploying BGP security measures that are unique to U.S. R&E networks, including RPKI legal barriers and the logistical challenges associated with the scale and structure of the R&E network community.
  
• Five recommendations to improve the state of routing security in the R&E community:
  • Making the concepts of routing security accessible and important.
  • Access to router configuration training.
  • Development and adoption of network configuration tools that will aid in the consistent implementation of the desired routing policy.
  • Development and operation of an R&E routing security observatory to provide the ability to independently measure the alignment with secure route policy. 
  • Development and maintenance of an R&E routing security control framework for assessing an organization’s routing security.

Read the FCC’s notice of inquiry and download a copy of Internet2’s filing to learn more.