The Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) initiative, supported by the Internet Society, on Thursday announced a groundbreaking Equipment Vendor Program to help reduce the most common threats to the Internet’s routing system.
The security of the Internet depends on routing security. Systemic issues that arise from how traffic is routed make the Internet vulnerable to abuse, attacks, and errors. Through technical and collaborative action, MANRS helps networks take crucial steps to decrease route hijacking, route leaks, and IP address spoofing.
Network equipment vendors provide business-grade products and services to communication service providers such as fixed or mobile operators, Internet exchange points (IXPs), and enterprise customers. Improving security controls for their products, such as routers and switches, and making them easy to configure enables their customers worldwide to route Internet traffic securely by default.
The MANRS Equipment Vendor Program provides best practices for all network equipment vendors. Participants agree to specific actions to improve the resilience and security of the routing infrastructure.
Collaboration and shared responsibility are key to the success of MANRS. The new Equipment Vendor Program is the latest in a series of programs established by MANRS including, the MANRS IXP Program in 2018 and the CDN & Cloud Program in 2020. To date, over 600 network operators, IXPs, and content delivery network (CDN) and cloud providers have signed on. By joining, these companies are showing their commitment to securing the fabric of the Internet.
