MANRS Launches New IXP Programme To Promote Routing Security

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the Euro-IX Forum, April 15-17 in Galway, Ireland, the Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) initiative, supported by the Internet Society, announces the launch of a new IXP Programme. The IXP Programme broadens support for the primary objective of MANRS, which is to implement crucial fixes needed to eliminate the most common threats to the Internet’s routing system.

The ten founding participants in the MANRS IXP Programme include: Asteroid (International), CABASE (Argentina), CRIX (Costa Rica), DE-CIX (Germany), INEX (Ireland), MSK-IX (Russia), Netnod (Sweden), RINEX (Rwanda), TorIX (Canada), and YYCIX (Canada). The founding participants include IXPs from Africa, Europe, Russia, North America, and South America.

MANRS was initially established by and for network operators, but IXPs also play a vital role in Internet security. The MANRS IXP Programme introduces a separate membership category for IXPs with a set of security actions to address the unique needs and concerns of IXPs. Programme participation provides an opportunity for an IXP to demonstrate its attention to the security and sustainability of the Internet ecosystem and, therefore, its dedication to providing high-quality services.

Participation in the MANRS IXP Programme requires an IXP to implement and document a majority of the IXP Programme Actions (at least three out of five). Actions 1 and 2 are mandatory, and the IXP must implement at least one additional Action. Here are the five Actions:

1. Facilitate prevention of propagation of incorrect routing information
2. Promote MANRS in the IXP’s membership
3. Protect the peering platform
4. Facilitate global operational communication and coordination between network operators
5. Provide monitoring and debugging tools to members

The IXP Programme founding participants have taken these actions, which establish a security baseline that many IXPs may already surpass and from which others can build.

Routing security is vital to the future and stability of the Internet. In 2017 alone, 14,000 routing outages or incidents – such as hijacking, leaks, spoofing and large-scale Denial of Service (DoS) attacks – led to stolen data, lost revenue, reputational damage and more. MANRS addresses these threats through technical and collaborative action across the Internet. The security of the Internet as a whole depends on routing security.

“The founding participants of the MANRS IXP Programme understand the importance of having a more resilient and secure Internet routing system,” said Andrei Robachevsky, the Internet Society’s Technology Programme Manager. “The IXP community is integral to the Internet ecosystem and by joining MANRS, they are joining a community of security-minded network operators committed to making the global routing infrastructure more secure.”

Other IXPs interested in the Programme are encouraged to visit www.manrs.org/ixp to learn more and join.

IXP Programme Founding Participants’ Supporting Quotes

“Asteroid has a strong focus on security, so we are proud to be a founding participant in MANRS. IXPs are often at the heart of the local operators’ community, and we believe it’s our responsibility to lead by example and to promote routing security. MANRS is an opportunity for us all to lift the standard of our shared security responsibility,” said Andy Davidson, CTO, Asteroid.

“Our community has matured to formalize “good-order rules.” Usually, the participants of the IX have already observed all the stipulated norms, but now we will have a formal document that the interested persons will be able to sign. It was important for our participants (over 95% use the Route Server service) that MSK-IX take on the role of arbiter,” says Alexander Ilin, Chief Technical Officer, MSK-IX.

“We at DE-CIX are proud to support the MANRS IXP Programme as a founding participant with our knowledge and experience. It is time for IXPs to take responsibility to make the Internet a more secure and resilient place,” said Christoph Dietzel, Head of Research & Development at DE-CIX.

About the Internet Society

Founded by Internet pioneers, the Internet Society (ISOC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet. Working through a global community of chapters and members, the Internet Society collaborates with a broad range of groups to promote the technologies that keep the Internet safe and secure, and advocates for policies that enable universal access. The Internet Society is also the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).