Outdated protocol
How do these network errors and malfunctions happen? And what can we do about them? To answer this, we need to understand how data and network packets travel through the Internet. In the Internet are signposts that guide the packets along the right path at every intersection. The protocol that labels these signposts is called the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). But it’s over 30 years old and during this time has hardly evolved at all. The protocol is vulnerable, and the massive expansion of the Internet has exposed many weaknesses. Hackers can mislabel the signposts and then intercept or eliminate data sent the wrong way.
Pre-labelled data packets
But these shortcomings don’t need to hold us in thrall. Scientists are currently investigating what a next-generation Internet could look like. My team and I are developing one such solution: it’s called SCION – which stands for
S
calability,
C
ontrol, and
I
solation
O
n
N
ext-Generation Networks. SCION solves BGP weaknesses by replacing the protocol, and even making it obsolete. Instead of being controlled by BGP, data packets contain at the time of sending the exact path they should take through the Internet. As the packets are sent by “autopilot”, there’s no more need for signposts at intersections.
SCION ensures that confidential data, such as medical data, is delivered to the recipient securely. The network is trustworthy, and personal data is protected to the highest degree. Although there are one or two other solutions, as far as I can see they provide only symptomatic relief, or entail a loss of bandwidth or flexibility.
