Reviewers needed: How Internet Peering Improves Security

[wbn <wbn () DrPeering net>]

Hi fellow NANOGers -

I recently spent some time with peering coordinators at industry events (NANOG, EPF, AFPIF, UKNOF, etc.) where I asked 
“How does Internet Peering affect Internet Security?”

The result of this exercise is a white paper, currently in its draft 4-page form, entitled “How Internet Peering 
Improves Security.”

What I need now are a handful of people that are interested in this subject and willing to let me talk through the 
draft in order to solicit direct feedback. If interested, please send email to wbn () DrPeering net with subject: 
"Review How Internet Peering Improves Security" and I will reach out to schedule some time.

Thanks in advance -

Bill

PS - Here is the abstract to help you decide if you are interested in helping me document this for the community, and 
yes, as usual, I will be happy to share the resulting white paper with anyone interested.


                                                                        How Internet Peering Improves Security

William B. Norton <wbn () DrPeering net>

 

Abstract

Denial-of-Service attacks continue to flood the Internet at increasing scale. They attack specific targets, while, as a 
side affect, disrupt any traffic that traverses the network attack paths. During these attacks, impacted Internet users 
may experience intermittent problems, such as video freeze frames, garbled audio during phone or Skype calls, or error 
messages indicating that their Internet cloud service is unavailable.

The ubiquitous and open nature of the Internet is both its value and its downfall. All one needs for access to cloud 
storage systems (DropBox, Box.net, etc.) is an Internet connection.  This also means that attackers need only a few 
thousand broadband computers, infected with viruses and taken over as zombies, to exploit this open Internet ecosystem 
and overwhelm even the most robust Internet services.

The attacks are not predictable in time, scope, or scale, and the impacts are far reaching, well beyond the source and 
destinations of the attacks. For these reason, the commodity Internet may not suitable for a subset of Internet 
applications. For example, some enterprise mission-critical applications require consistency simply unavailable from 
today’s Internet Transit services.

There is however a well-known interconnection approach that improves this situation: an interconnection technique call 
“Internet Peering.“ This paper will introduce Internet Peering and discuss how Internet security is improved simply by 
using this common interconnection technique.