Why should you care about routing security? Introducing MANRS Primers

If you are a policymaker or a business executive, why should you care about routing security? Why does it matter to you? If you are an IT executive with hundreds of tasks to do, why should you prioritize routing security? How will it make your networks more secure?

While Internet routing decisions are typically made by network operators, routing security incidents can impact all of us on the Internet, including businesses and public services. Our data can be intercepted and stolen. Our website can be redirected to someone else’s website. Our services can be shut down through an attack. Fortunately, we all can take steps to avoid the most common threats and encourage good practices.

Today, we are releasing four MANRS Primers to help four distinct groups of people:

• Policymakers
• Business executives
• IT executives
• Computer security incident response teams (CSIRTs)

In the documents, we explain in simple language what routing security is, why it matters to the group, and how Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) can help.

For instance, we recommend business executives update their procurement and business continuity programs to ensure their network providers, Internet service providers (ISPs), cloud hosting providers, and content delivery networks (CDN) follow established routing security best practices.

We recommend policymakers encourage network operators in their jurisdiction to follow common routing security guidelines and promote their adoption across the industry. Importantly, we encourage policymakers to facilitate initiatives in a way that preserves the strengths of the global routing system, including its overall resilience, flexibility, and scalability.

MANRS is an industry-led initiative that sets a clear, commonly-agreed security baseline and builds a strong community behind it. About 700 organizations worldwide are MANRS participants.

The Internet Society supports MANRS as part of its work to strengthen the Internet and improve routing security.

Routing security is a problem that has plagued network operators around the world for decades. Yet the interconnected nature of the Internet means that nobody can solve the problem alone, no matter how big a network is.

Even though not all of us manage our own networks, we all can drive the market to build more resilient networks. Collectively, our actions can be a lever for better routing security for everyone.

Please read – and share – all of the MANRS Primers.