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Pakistan's YouTube Showdown Highlights Larger Threat

When YouTube went offline for the better part of a day, it highlighted the fundamental insecurity of Internet routing, according to researchers and Internet registry officials.

By Rick Cook

ARIN is working with its Asian counterpart, APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre), and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) to develop certificate-based verification methods for tracing IP addresses. But that is some ways off.

Meanwhile, both Kosters and McPherson say there are several things companies can do:

Require your ISP to filter all its routing announcements. This will make sure that none of its customers announce routes to IP addresses they don't own. This should be part of your request for proposals and your bandwidth contracts.

Develop an interdomain policy for what IP addresses you can make public.

Monitor your ISP's routing structure.

And remember this warning from Kosters: "The whole area of Internet routing is highly insecure."

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