4 ms·

Quick fix for an early Internet problem lives on a quarter-century later (2015)

11 points by BerislavLopac 8y ago

dang 8y ago
2016: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12892502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12892502 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9636141 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9636141
pasbesoin 8y ago
For those wondering "what", it's finally named in paragraphs 8 and 9, or 9 and 10, depending on how you count: Such is the story of the “three-napkins protocol,” more formally known as Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP. At its most basic level, BGP helps routers decide how to send giant flows of data across the vast mesh of connections that make up the Internet. With infinite numbers of possible paths — some slow and meandering, others quick and direct — BGP gives routers the information they need to pick one, even though there is no overall map of the Internet and no authority charged with directing its traffic.
- mirimir 8y ago
  BGP was on my short list, based on the title. And I'm puzzled by this: > There was no concept that people would use this to do malicious things. Pranking/rfing was very common, in those days. Not exactly malicious, of course. All in good fun. But still ...
omeid2 8y ago
There has been some progress recently on this issue, more specifically BGPsec, and with the existence of established (quasi?)-authorities that deal with AS around the world, the RIRs, the prospect of having this deployed on the majority of internet is very practical. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGPsec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGPsec
mirimir 8y ago
FYI: https://web.archive.org/web/20181213102455/https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/31/net-of-insecurity-part-2/ https://web.archive.org/web/20181213102455/https://www.washi...
mirimir 8y ago
So this sounds alarming, right? > There is another dangerous possibility lurking in BGP, what Madory calls the “dystopian possibility” that some network — perhaps in a moment when international hostilities are spilling into cyberspace — intentionally claims control of sections of the Internet that don’t belong to it. > Such a move would confuse the world’s routers, which would have to choose between rival claims to the same blocks of Internet addresses. The overall network, unable to discern truth amid competing claims, could fracture into rival fiefdoms. But hey, the US already does this, for some FBI website seizures. And for black-holing "bad" sites.
- asaph 8y ago
  > Such a move would confuse the world’s routers, which would have to choose between rival claims to the same blocks of Internet addresses. I know! We can solve this with blockchain technology! > The overall network, unable to discern truth amid competing claims, could fracture into rival fiefdoms. Oh right. The inevitable forks would ruin everything. Oh well...

11 points by BerislavLopac 8y ago

dang 8y ago

2016: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12892502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12892502 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9636141 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9636141

pasbesoin 8y ago

For those wondering "what", it's finally named in paragraphs 8 and 9, or 9 and 10, depending on how you count: Such is the story of the “three-napkins protocol,” more formally known as Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP. At its most basic level, BGP helps routers decide how to send giant flows of data across the vast mesh of connections that make up the Internet. With infinite numbers of possible paths — some slow and meandering, others quick and direct — BGP gives routers the information they need to pick one, even though there is no overall map of the Internet and no authority charged with directing its traffic.

mirimir 8y ago
BGP was on my short list, based on the title. And I'm puzzled by this: > There was no concept that people would use this to do malicious things. Pranking/rfing was very common, in those days. Not exactly malicious, of course. All in good fun. But still ...

omeid2 8y ago

There has been some progress recently on this issue, more specifically BGPsec, and with the existence of established (quasi?)-authorities that deal with AS around the world, the RIRs, the prospect of having this deployed on the majority of internet is very practical. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGPsec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGPsec

mirimir 8y ago

FYI: https://web.archive.org/web/20181213102455/https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/05/31/net-of-insecurity-part-2/ https://web.archive.org/web/20181213102455/https://www.washi...

mirimir 8y ago

So this sounds alarming, right? > There is another dangerous possibility lurking in BGP, what Madory calls the “dystopian possibility” that some network — perhaps in a moment when international hostilities are spilling into cyberspace — intentionally claims control of sections of the Internet that don’t belong to it. > Such a move would confuse the world’s routers, which would have to choose between rival claims to the same blocks of Internet addresses. The overall network, unable to discern truth amid competing claims, could fracture into rival fiefdoms. But hey, the US already does this, for some FBI website seizures. And for black-holing "bad" sites.

asaph 8y ago
> Such a move would confuse the world’s routers, which would have to choose between rival claims to the same blocks of Internet addresses. I know! We can solve this with blockchain technology! > The overall network, unable to discern truth amid competing claims, could fracture into rival fiefdoms. Oh right. The inevitable forks would ruin everything. Oh well...