The internet is under constant attack from many directions and that’s increasing every day. The Internet Society recognizes this reality and is in strong support of the Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) global initiative. This organization provides guidelines and assesses each group’s implementation of best practices to prevent occurrences of traffic hijacking, address spoofing, DDoS and other common threats.
In a 451 Research report, MANRS Project Study Report commissioned by the Internet Society, 71% of enterprises surveyed stated that security was a core value for their organization. The following graph illustrates their most critical security concerns, some are perennial problems (i.e., DDoS) and other threats represent the greatest revenue losses (i.e., IP address spoofing).
451 Research study: MARNS Perception and Action, July 2017
A high number of enterprises (64%) expressed confidence that MANRS actions could be effective in dealing with these threats.
Equinix Internet Exchange™ (IX) supports the highest volume of IP data traffic in the world. As a leading IP peering provider, we share the responsibility for enhancing internet security, stability and operations. We are proud to be joining the MANRS program in collaboration with other Tier 1 NSPs and ISPs to comply with the following MANRS actions:
- Filtering – Making sure your and your customers’ routing announcements are correct
- Anti-spoofing – Enabling source address validation to prevent spoofed packets from entering or leaving your network
- Coordination – Maintaining globally accessible contact information in common places such as the PeeringDB, regional internet registries, WHOIS databases and Equinix-owned web sites.
- Global Validation – Publishing data, including advertised routing policy and prefixes, so all routing information can be validated by third parties
We believe that routing security is vital to the future and stability of the internet and will also encourage our Equinix IX customers and partners to support MANRS. Here are some of the activities Equinix will be doing as part of its MANRS community participation:
- Encourage Equinix IX customers and partners to implement the MANRS actions
- Offer assistance to its Equinix IX and other MANRS members to maintain accurate routing info
- Provide a page on the Equinix IX customer portal that lists MANRS best practices
- Show MANRS participation on the member list
- Protect the Equinix IX peering solution
- Facilitate global operations communications and coordination between network operators to stop any potential violations and abuses
- Provide monitoring and debugging tools to the EQUINIX IX members – shortening potential outages
Support of MANRS also strengthens the security and integrity of the interconnection solutions we provide our customers. Equinix will work with the MANRS community to promote good network routing practices, a fundamental requirement for trust between providers that will, ultimately, create a safer and stronger internet for customers.
You can learn more about MANRS by viewing this video:
Expanding our secure and robust global internet peering exchange
We have recently brought Equinix IX online in three markets: Amsterdam, Bogota and Sao Paulo. This brings the total of Equinix IX locations to 36 in 34 markets worldwide. Amsterdam represents a central hub for European traffic and joins a number IX exchange locations in EMEA. The LATAM markets in Bogota and São Paulo required the capabilities of a more global, private internet exchange as a diverse offering to incumbent exchanges, given that many companies require a second internet exchange for redundancy. Also, an increasing number content delivery network (CDN) providers in this region needed the high-quality operating practices of a private provider to best meet global media and content customer requirements. In São Paulo, we interconnected the Equinix IX facility (SP4) to our three other São Paulo Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) facilities to offer IX access across the entire metropolitan area.
The combination of our MANRS membership and our expansion of the Equinix Internet Exchange solution in EMEA and LATAM reinforces our commitment to delivering, securing and preserving the integrity of high-performance IP peering worldwide.
Learn more about the Equinix Internet Exchange.
The global and regional peering community will be busy in September, including attending the widely anticipated European Peering Forum, which runs Sept 17-19th. Hosted in Athens, this will be the thirteenth event of its kind that brings together decision makers, influencers and consumers from the world of internet peering. Security has always been a hot topic, but in the last couple of years it will be even more central. Director of Interconnection for Equinix in EMEA, Brenden Rawle, will be speaking at the event on September 18, at 11:40 AM to give an update on Equinix and our role in MANRS.
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