TL;DR: An augmented AS graph representation is proposed that classifies AS relationships into customer-provider, peering, and sibling relationships, and presents heuristic algorithms that infer AS relationships from BGP routing tables.
Abstract: The Internet consists of rapidly increasing number of hosts interconnected by constantly evolving networks of links and routers. Interdomain routing in the Internet is coordinated by the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). The BGP allows each autonomous system (AS) to choose its own administrative policy in selecting routes and propagating reachability information to others. These routing policies are constrained by the contractual commercial agreements between administrative domains. For example, an AS sets its policy so that it does not provide transit services between its providers. Such policies imply that AS relationships are an important aspect of the Internet structure. We propose an augmented AS graph representation that classifies AS relationships into customer-provider, peering, and sibling relationships. We classify the types of routes that can appear in BGP routing tables based on the relationships between the ASs in the path and present heuristic algorithms that infer AS relationships from BGP routing tables. The algorithms are tested on publicly available BGP routing tables. We verify our inference results with AT&T internal information on its relationship with neighboring ASs. As much as 99.1% of our inference results are confirmed by the AT&T internal information. We also verify our inferred sibling relationships with the information acquired from the WHOIS lookup service. More than half of our inferred sibling-to-sibling relationships are confirmed by the WHOIS lookup service. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no publicly available information about AS relationships and this is the first attempt in understanding and inferring AS relationships in the Internet. We show evidence that some routing table entries stem from router misconfigurations.
TL;DR: A secure, scalable, deployable architecture (S-BGP) for an authorization and authentication system that addresses most of the security problems associated with BGP is described.
Abstract: The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which is used to distribute routing information between autonomous systems (ASes), is a critical component of the Internet's routing infrastructure. It is highly vulnerable to a variety of malicious attacks, due to the lack of a secure means of verifying the authenticity and legitimacy of BGP control traffic. This paper describes a secure, scalable, deployable architecture (S-BGP) for an authorization and authentication system that addresses most of the security problems associated with BGP. The paper discusses the vulnerabilities and security requirements associated with BGP, describes the S-BGP countermeasures, and explains how they address these vulnerabilities and requirements. In addition, this paper provides a comparison of this architecture to other approaches that have been proposed, analyzes the performance implications of the proposed countermeasures, and addresses operational issues.
TL;DR: It is found that most spam is being sent from a few regions of IP address space, and that spammers appear to be using transient "bots" that send only a few pieces of email over very short periods of time.
Abstract: This paper studies the network-level behavior of spammers, including: IP address ranges that send the most spam, common spamming modes (e.g., BGP route hijacking, bots), how persistent across time each spamming host is, and characteristics of spamming botnets. We try to answer these questions by analyzing a 17-month trace of over 10 million spam messages collected at an Internet "spam sinkhole", and by correlating this data with the results of IP-based blacklist lookups, passive TCP fingerprinting information, routing information, and botnet "command and control" traces.We find that most spam is being sent from a few regions of IP address space, and that spammers appear to be using transient "bots" that send only a few pieces of email over very short periods of time. Finally, a small, yet non-negligible, amount of spam is received from IP addresses that correspond to short-lived BGP routes, typically for hijacked prefixes. These trends suggest that developing algorithms to identify botnet membership, filtering email messages based on network-level properties (which are less variable than email content), and improving the security of the Internet routing infrastructure, may prove to be extremely effective for combating spam.
TL;DR: This paper considers the current vulnerabilities of the interdomain routing system and surveys both research and standardization efforts relating to BGP security, exploring the limitations and advantages of proposed security extensions to B GP, and explaining why no solution has yet struck an adequate balance between comprehensive security and deployment cost.
Abstract: As the Internet's de facto interdomain routing protocol, the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the glue that holds the disparate parts of the Internet together. A major limitation of BGP is its failure to adequately address security. Recent high-profile outages and security analyses clearly indicate that the Internet routing infrastructure is highly vulnerable. Moreover, the design of BGP and the ubiquity of its deployment have frustrated past efforts at securing interdomain routing. This paper considers the current vulnerabilities of the interdomain routing system and surveys both research and standardization efforts relating to BGP security. We explore the limitations and advantages of proposed security extensions to BGP, and explain why no solution has yet struck an adequate balance between comprehensive security and deployment cost.
TL;DR: In this article, a system and method that provides for using source IP addresses and MAC addresses in a network to provide security against attempts by users of the network to use false source IP address in data packets is presented.
Abstract: A system and method that provides for using source IP addresses and MAC addresses in a network to provide security against attempts by users of the network to use false source IP addresses in data packets. The system and method provide for analyzing MAC addresses and source IP addresses at the datalink (layer 2) level, and to use the information derived from such analysis to block access through a port where a host device is using a false, or spoofed, source IP address in transmitted data packets. Further, the system and method provide for validating initially learned source IP addresses, and for determining whether the number of unsuccessful attempts to validate new source IP addresses exceeds a threshold level, and where the number does exceed the threshold number the system and method can provide for operation in a possible attack mode.