The Internet’s Biggest Security Hole

Via Wired:

Two security researchers have demonstrated a new technique to stealthily intercept internet traffic on a scale previously presumed to be unavailable to anyone outside of intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency.

The tactic exploits the internet routing protocol BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) to let an attacker surreptitiously monitor unencrypted internet traffic anywhere in the world, and even modify it before it reaches its destination.

BGP is nearly the only WAN protocol anyone takes seriously and is the only one meaningfully deployed. BGP is supposed to be authenticated between peers, but apparently not often enough.

Here’s the PDF of Kapela and Pilosov’s presentation.