FUD: 15% of world's internet traffic hijacked

Wed Nov 17 17:46:09 UTC 2010

On Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:45:14 -0500
Bob Poortinga <bobp+nanog at webster.tsc.com> wrote:

> This article, which quotes Dmitri Alperovitch of McAfee, is full of
> false data as far as I can tell.  I assert that much less than 15%,
> probably on the order of 1% to 2% (much less in the US) was actually
> diverted.  The correct statement is that 15% of the world's network
> prefixes were "hijacked", but the impact was minimal in the US.

In my experience, it is not uncommon for folks in the security industry
who talk to the press to be quoted claiming something that turns out to
be careless exaggeration at best.  The February 2007 DNS DDoS attacks
were a good example where that happened and I'm familiar with.  The
media likes a good story.

> My concern is that this "report" will be presented to the US Congress
> without being refuted by experts in the know.

Call me an optimist, but I find it unlikely that a trade magazine will
carry more weight than simply drawing further attention to the matter,
which would presumably result in more rigorous analysis if warranted.

John