BGP Hijacking: The Internet's Biggest Security Hole

BGP is the protocol that stitches the internet together, but it was built on trust. If an ISP accidentally (or maliciously) announces that they own Google's IP space, the world's traffic will start flowing to them.

How It Happens

Routers choose the "best path" based on BGP announcements. If a rogue router announces a more specific prefix (/24 instead of /16), it becomes the preferred route for that traffic globally.

Famous Incidents

There have been cases where all of YouTube's traffic was rerouted to Pakistan, or crypto-wallet traffic was stolen through BGP manipulation.

The Cure: RPKI

Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) allows network owners to cryptographically sign their BGP announcements. This allows other routers to verify that the person announcing the route actually owns it.