Re: ~e; computer routers in DDoS attacks

[Randolph Fritz <randolph@darkwing.uoregon.edu>]

On Wed, Oct 24, 2001 at 07:51:47AM -0600, brian carroll wrote:
> 
>   if anyone on the list could explain how a router works today,
>   it would be much appreciated. i am trying to remember what was
>   said to me about routers today, what they do. basically, i think
>   it was said these used to be dumb devices, passing through data,
>   but now with so many addresses and options, they are now dealing
>   with the entire addressing system of the internet, where to route
>   the data-traffic to, and need to process this data before sending
>   a stream in a certain direction. also, it seems these routers are
>   also networked on the backside together, working together to make
>   such decision-making faster and more efficient.
> 

There are different kinds of routers.  Most of them are simple gadgets
that hang out in corporate closets.  At the edges of corporate
networks and at small ISPs there are have more complex routers which
dynamically make decisions about traffic flow--these are the ones
which are being compromised.  At the backbone of the network there are
research organizations and the big backbone providers--firms like ATT
and MCI Worldcom--and I think they all do it a bit differently.

One point not usually made about this is that it's largely built on
the existing voice transmission network and, at the level of the large
carriers, the networks merge.  Internet II is something else, but the
original ARPAnet used a tiny bit of the voice network to carry its
traffic.  There is, by the way, very little difference between a
long-distance telephone exchange and an internet routing center.

Randolph


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