By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Tuesday it wants federal agencies to improve the security of Internet routing on networks amid concerns raised by U.S. officials about China's ability to divert Internet traffic.
The White House Office of the National Cybersecurity Director outlined in a report a series of efforts aimed at addressing a key security vulnerability associated with the Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP, which is central to the Internet's global information routing system.
The office said federal agencies should implement routing security on their networks and seeks to require service providers contracted by the U.S. government to implement current commercially viable Internet routing security technologies.
“Traffic can be inadvertently or intentionally diverted, potentially exposing personal information, enabling state-level theft, extortion and espionage, disrupting security-critical transactions and disrupting critical infrastructure operations,” the report said.
The Internet is made up of over 70,000 interconnected networks and BGP is used to exchange information for routing traffic.
The White House report said that “BGP's original design properties do not adequately address the threats and resiliency requirements of today's Internet ecosystem.”
In June, the Federal Communications Commission submitted a proposal to improve BGP security after U.S. agencies said China Telecom (NYSE:) used BGP vulnerabilities “to divert U.S. 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 U.S. traffic.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in June that “these 'BGP hijacks' can expose personal information, enable theft, extortion and state-level espionage.”
In April, the FCC said it was ordering the U.S. units of China Telecom, China Unicom (NYSE:), China Mobile (NYSE:), and Chinese telecom company Pacific Networks and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet to halt fixed or mobile broadband internet operations in the United States.
The commission had previously banned Chinese companies from providing telecommunications services, citing national security concerns.
The FCC previously banned approvals of new telecom equipment from Chinese firms Huawei Technologies and ZTE (HK:), saying they pose “an unacceptable risk” to US national security.
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