INTERNET-PROTOCOL-(IP)-BLACK-HOLES：A-E-Security-Threat.pdfVIP

INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) BLACK HOLES: A E-Security Threat Prashant Department d’Informatique et de recherché operationnelle, Universite de Montreal, Montreal. Canada. {prashant }@iro.umontreal.ca http://www-etud.iro.umontreal.ca/~prashant/ Abstract The concept of Internet Protocol (IP) Black Holes is a very exciting area of Network Security and Hacking. IP Black Holes is an active area of research and as the word suggests IP Black Holes do really exist on the Internet. These Black Holes are a very active phenomenon which can be a potentially lethal weapon in the armory of hackers and crackers alike. IP Black Holes are those unprecedented dangerous regions which get developed on the internet which act as potential black holes for packets going in those directions and get lost in the IP black hole world. Internet Protocol Black hole is defined as that area of the IP space for that there is no relevant routing information, right in the point where that information should have existed. In other words a certain entity is considered to be the destination for that zone, but the entity itself does not know how to route that zone. Black holes occur in the routing protocols especially in BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) context. Possible causes of black holes are an intended attack, a miss- configuration or an administrative action. Hence this paper is an attempt in the direction of highlighting the fact that IP Black Holes can be a potentially lethal hacking tool in the hands of hackers and crackers and carry a lot of security threat with them. We are proposing here that IP Black Holes can be even created intentionally by ha