Internet Society Introduces MANRS Initiative to Improve Resiliency and Security of Routing Infrastructure

The Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) initiative, supported by the Internet Society, has announced an equipment vendor program to help reduce the most common threats to the Internet’s routing system.

The founding participants of this new MANRS program include global networking equipment leaders Arista, Cisco, Huawei, Juniper and Nokia, with more expected to join soon.

The security of the Internet depends on the security of the routing. Systemic issues with the way traffic is routed make the Internet vulnerable to abuse, attacks, and errors. Through technical and collaborative action, MANRS helps networks take critical action to reduce route diversion, route leaks and IP spoofing.

Network equipment suppliers provide professional-grade products and services to communication service providers such as fixed or mobile operators, Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and corporate customers. Improved security controls on their products, such as routers and switches, and their ease of configuration allow their customers around the world to route Internet traffic securely by default.

The MANRS Equipment Supplier Program provides best practices for all network equipment suppliers. Participants agree to specific actions to improve the resiliency and security of the routing infrastructure. By joining, they accept the routing security framework defined by a set of two actions and a commitment:

• Equipment vendors are committed to providing security features that network operators can use to implement MANRS recommendations, such as the prevention of incorrect routing information and IP address spoofing.
• Participants undertake to promote MANRS through training and technical content.
• They also agree to actively participate in the MANRS community to advise members, develop solutions and assist in the routing of security resources.

“The fact that five of the world’s leading network equipment vendors are working with the MANRS community to launch the new Equipment Vendor Program demonstrates the importance of routing security in making the Internet safe for businesses and consumers.” said Andrei Robachevsky, senior director, technology programs for the Internet Society. “These founding participants are leading the way in improving routing security and hopefully motivate the entire Internet infrastructure community to make the Internet safer for everyone.”

Collaboration and sharing of responsibilities are the key to MANRS’s success. The new equipment supplier 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, more than 600 network operators, IXPs and content delivery network (CDN) and cloud providers have signed up. By joining, these companies show their commitment to securing the Internet fabric.

“For Arista, security is a key attribute of our overall solution, starting with the routing perimeter for global Internet resilience. As a global leader in cloud networking, we also want to participate in efforts to secure the Internet, ”said Ashwin Kohli, senior vice president, client engineering for Arista Networks. “MANRS provides excellent guidance for achieving this goal and Arista Networks is proud to be a founding participant in the MANRS Supplier Program.”

“At Cisco, security is embedded in everything we do. We believe that earning the trust of customers is about being transparent and accountable as we strive to connect more people and businesses to the Internet securely, ”said Kevin Wollenweber, vice president of networks, Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group, Cisco. “With the state of hybrid work and so many applications running on service provider router platforms, we are continually updating our network operating system on all platforms to help our customers mitigate advanced and persistent threats. As a founding member of the Equipment Provider Program, we look forward to collaborating with the entire community to drive innovation in network security.

Hank Chen, Metro Router Domain President of the Data Communication Product Line, Huawei says, “Routing security is critical to Internet security, and this includes network devices (for example, routers and IXP switches) , the basis of the Internet. Over the years, Huawei has been dedicated to creating secure and reliable network devices and has extensive capabilities and experience in the field. Huawei is honored to join MANRS as an active contributor to Internet security.

“With greater dependence on the Internet now more than ever, it is crucial that the Internet is stable and offers secure and reliable methods for connecting users. It is the responsibility of the global community to work together to ensure that the ecosystem forming the Internet functions well and is protected from threat actors. Juniper Networks is proud to support the MANRS program and will continue to strive for a better Internet in today’s connected world, ”said Melchior Aelmans, Consulting Engineer, Juniper Networks.