Worth Reading: SMTP downgrade attacks and MTA-STS

15 October 2024


When SMTP was created it was cleartext only, as we hadn’t yet figured out Transport Layer Security (TLS). When TLS was finally ready, we needed a way to phase TLS in. STARTTLS was created and offered opportunistic encryption.

Worth Reading: Grid scale battery fires loom large

15 October 2024


America faces a growing threat from grid scale lithium battery fires. Construction of huge battery arrays with no concern for potentially catastrophic fires is out of control.

Worth Reading: How Big Should a Packet Be?

14 October 2024


But some very fundamental questions remain unanswered in this packet-switched world. Perhaps the most basic questions is: “How big should a packet be?” And, surprisingly enough, there is no clear answer!

Worth Reading: Patching Internet Vulnerabilities with RPKI

14 October 2024


He talked to us about where RPKI is at today, how governments can and have aided its adoption, and how work being done on ASPA and BGPsec promise a more secure future for the Internet.

Worth Reading: The Next Generation of BGP Data Collection Platforms

10 October 2024


We explore a new BGP data collection paradigm, already implemented in a prototype called GILL, that could stir change for our public platforms: RIS, RouteViews and PCH.

Worth Reading: Five Things to Know About the Future of Long Distance Optics

8 October 2024


One of the most critical trends for long-distancer communications has been the shift from large, rack-scale transport equipment boxes running on embedded DSPs often from the same vendor to pluggable modules based on standardized form factors running DSPs from silicon suppliers tuned to the power limits of modules.

Worth Reading: A Brief History of Blockchain Interoperability

8 October 2024


Blockchain interoperability conflates the need for distributed systems to communicate with third-party systems without a canonical chain or orchestration layer. As there is no “chain to rule them all” (for performance, privacy, and market forces), these distributed systems rely on exchanging data and value across network boundaries.

Worth Reading: Carver Mead and the Computer That Couldn’t Possibly Work

7 October 2024


Did you know that one man can be credited with many of the Information Age’s most significant advances in the tiny circuits that enable the internet and cell phones around the world?

Worth Reading: Close the AI Cloud Loophole

7 October 2024


In the race to AI supremacy, few things are as important as having access to advanced computer chips. The United States and China are currently vying for the top spot, so it makes sense to implement rules to prevent China from obtaining these chips

Worth Reading: IXP-from-Scratch — The Peering LAN

3 October 2024


In this article, we start by explaining the configuration of our switching infrastructure using common IETF protocols to implement redundancy, full usage of resources, and seamless adaptivity in case of failures or maintenance. We then continue presenting the configuration of our route servers with a special focus on isolating different LANs and dynamically exclude invalid routes.