MANRS Reaches 500 Networks

A consequence of so many of us staying at home due to COVID-19 is that usage of the Internet has significantly increased – by some measures up to 50% over previous traffic levels. It makes sense, then, that we are also seeing increased attention to routing security, so we’re proud to announce that last week we reached a new milestone: 500 participating networks (ASNs) now practice good MANRS.

Nearly 100 additional networks have joined the initiative by showing conformance with the MANRS actions to improve the resilience and security of the Internet’s routing infrastructure this year, bringing the current number of network operator program participants to 365 (some networks are operating more than one ASN).

Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) identify networks in the same administrative domain (e.g., ISPs and large enterprises) and there are currently just over 68,000 of these appearing in the global routing system.

However, only around 10,000 of these are multi-homed (i.e., connected to two or more networks), so as more of these networks implement the MANRS Actions, it has an exponential impact on reducing the possibility of route leaks and hijacks occurring. And as more networks use route validation mechanisms, such as IRR or RPKI, it becomes increasingly practical to start preferring those networks.

Over 150 other network operators have also applied to join MANRS, and we are currently working with them to achieve the necessary conformance with the MANRS Actions. Meanwhile, we have 52 Internet Exchange Points participating in the IXP program, whilst our CDN and Cloud provider program that was launched on 1 April 2020 is also attracting significant interest.

We are inviting Network Operators, IXPs and CDN and Cloud providers around the world to join us.