Author

Shawn Zwach

Date of Award

Spring 4-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PHDCS)

First Advisor

Michael Ham

Second Advisor

Patrick Engebretson

Third Advisor

Fenecia Homan

Fourth Advisor

Austin O'Brien

Abstract

The Internet relies on the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to share reachability information across the globe. This protocol has previously, intentionally or unintentionally, been misconfigured by its users. Although there are solutions proposed to improve the security of BGP, the adoption of those solutions is not universal. This study measured the performance impact of implementing a network identification mechanism in BGP messages by appending signature information within IPv6 extension headers. There was a statistically significant impact on the performance of the BGP speakers under test and further research is needed to determine if such an impact is worth it for the potential security benefits of easily identifying networks.

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