White House asks agencies to step up security efforts for Internet routing By Reuters

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Tuesday it wants federal agencies to increase the security of Internet routing networks, amid concerns raised by U.S. officials about China’s ability to divert Internet traffic.

The White House Office of the National Cyber ​​Director, in a report, outlined a series of efforts to address a key security vulnerability associated with the Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP, which is critical to the global information routing system on the Internet.

The bureau said federal agencies should implement routing security on their networks and is trying to require service providers contracted with the U.S. government to implement current commercially viable Internet routing security technologies.

“Traffic can be accidentally or intentionally hijacked, which can expose personal information; enables state-level theft, extortion, and espionage; disrupt security-critical transactions and may disrupt critical infrastructure operations,” the report said.

The Internet consists of over 70,000 interconnected networks, and BGP is used to exchange information to route traffic.

The White House report said that “BGP’s original design properties do not adequately address the threat and resiliency requirements of today’s Internet ecosystem.”

In June, the Federal Communications Commission advanced a proposal to increase BGP security after US agencies said China Telecom (NYSE: ) used BGP vulnerabilities “to misdirect United States Internet traffic on at least six occasions “.

The Departments of Defense and Justice said BGP provided China with “opportunities to disrupt, capture, examine, and alter US traffic.”

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in June that “these ‘BGP hijacks’ can expose personal information, enable state-level theft, extortion and espionage.”

In April, the FCC said it ordered U.S. units China Telecom, China Unicom (NYSE: ), China Mobile (NYSE: ), and Chinese telecommunications company Pacific Networks and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet to discontinue fixed broadband Internet or US mobile. operations.

The Commission previously banned Chinese companies from providing telecommunications services, citing national security concerns.

The FCC previously barred approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE (HK: ), saying they posed an “unacceptable risk” to US national security.