SCION: Switzerland's Secure Alternative to BGP Internet Routing Protocol
By
jonbaer
Fresh out the oven, still warm. Top of the tray.
Summary
The article discusses SCION (Scalability, Control, and Isolation On Next-Generation Networks), a secure alternative to BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) developed in Switzerland. While BGP has been the internet's routing protocol for decades and is fundamentally insecure, SCION offers built-in security features that prevent route hijacks, leaks, and interception attacks. The technology has been successfully implemented in Swiss banking and healthcare sectors but has seen slow adoption globally due to the challenges of replacing the entrenched BGP infrastructure.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledFeature BGP, the Border Gateway Protocol, was not designed to be secure. It was designed to work – to route packets between the thousands of autonomous systems that make up the internet, quickly and at scale.
For four decades, it has done exactly that. It has also, throughout those four decades, been exploited, misconfigured, and abused in ways that were predictable from the start.
Route hijacks reroute traffic through hostile networks. Route leaks knock services offline. Nation-state cyber crews weaponize BGP to intercept communications at scale.
These are not theoretical threats.
SCION: Proven in banking and healthcare, slow to spread everywhere else
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