Trouble in the tubes: How internet routing security breaks down and how you can do it at home

We all protect our home networks, but how safe is your data once it leaves on its journey to the latest cat pictures? How does your traffic make it to its destination and what threats does it face on its way? What is BGP and why should you care? In this talk, I'll explain the basic structure of the network that is the Internet and the trust relationships on which it is built. We'll explore several types of attacks that you may have seen in the news that exploit this relationship to bring down websites, steal cryptocurrency, and monitor dissidents. Because talking about bringing down the Internet isn't as much fun as doing, I'll show how to create a mini Internet using Mininet and demonstrate the attacks without the need for a BGP router or a lawyer. Finally, because nation states shouldn't get to have all the fun, I'll use Scapy and some novel techniques to demonstrate how a compromised router can be used to prevent attribution, frame a friend, or create a covert communication channel.