There's always a siren singing you to shipwreck
Radiohead
Radiohead
As the title suggests, this (pretty verbose) post is for anyone interested in what my work will roughly consist of. For those who do not master things like graph theory and routing protocols, it may still be interesting to read the example below, or to look at the bottom of this post for a colorful example.
The first step of my thesis concerns the enhancement of BGPlay, an application developed by the CompuNet Research Group at Roma Tre University and currently hosted by Oregon Route Views. It shows animated graphs with edges (peerings) connecting nodes (Autonomous Systems), therefore allowing an intuitive analysis of interdomain routing events related to a specified prefix, within a time interval. My contribution will be to adapt BGPlay's interface to the INRDB, a prototypical database realized by the Science Group at the RIPE NCC, containing historical data gathered from many authoritative sources. The aim is to provide an instrument for a long-term, coarse-grained analysis of major trends and events affecting the Internet throughout its (relatively) long history.
In plain words? Alice wastes hours on Facebook playing FarmVille. Her CowComputer unwillingly converts every passionate click into a Mooossage, sending it to some FarmerComputer somewhere. Before reaching the FarmerComputer, every message goes through many welcoming TransitFarms. If a FlockOfDumbSheep proudly blocks the path, the Mooossage is incredibly smart enough to find another way visiting different TransitFarms, without letting Alice notice any difference. If however a MadFarmer puts some misleading road signs on the way to the FarmerComputer, or if some NastyChickens tear down all the bridges to cross over the unfailing river, the Mooossage is only able to commit a honorific suicide. Well, in both cases BGPlay acts as the black box secretly hidden under the Mooossage's skin, allowing Alice to understand what led it to such an extreme action.
If you are still awake, here's a video showing a real case study: the Youtube prefix hijacking by Pakistan Telecom in February 2008. It was realized using the previous version of BGPlay, already hosted by the RIPE NCC for some time. Enjoy!
