NTT Communications is collaborating with the Japan Network Information Center (JPNIC) in the field test of a new Internet Routing Registry (IRR), a routing database that is being designed for enhanced reliability and to prevent Internet routing from being hijacked. The test will end on February 27. The experimental IRR is being tested in an actual Internet environment to quantitatively measure how fast its server recovers from failure. Performance also will be evaluated qualitatively based on interviews of the test participants, which include operators of the existing JPIRR based in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, and Internet service providers (ISPs) that currently use the JPIRR.
NTT Com said the trial IRR is expected to help resolve problems associated with the ongoing increase in routing information between networks and the rising threat of this information being misused. There already have been cases of malicious use resulting in websites becoming inaccessible.
IRRs, which enable ISPs to register their routing policies and share them with other ISPs, already incorporate measures for the early detection and prevention of routing hijacks. Nevertheless, IRR server operation can be interrupted due to redundancy or load-sharing limitations.
NTT Com developed its experimental IRR under a four-year, publicly sponsored project of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC). The project finishes this March.
Following the field test, the results will be reported to the MIAC, and NTT Com and JPNIC will continue refining technology for the verification and storage of IRR data, aiming eventually to install an extra-reliable and secure IRR on the JPNIC’s premises.
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