Enabling Security Research Through Efficient Partial Deployment Topology Configuration and Validation

Abstract

How to measure security value in partial deployments has long been a consideration for the Internet research community. Without clear security outcomes, adoption of security mechanisms may take years before users begin to see any benefit. This lack of clarity can serve to further delay adoption as incentives to implement are often outweighed by additional costs or complexity. While prior efforts have looked at theoretical approaches to estimate this critical mass of partial deployment within a topology, no effort has been able to effectively simulate and measure such an outcome. In this work, we provide an early effort to demonstrate how topology simulation can be used to effectively deploy and measure partial deployments of RPKI utilizing the SEED Internet Emulator. Our efforts show that this approach can be used to simulate large networks and provide an effective means to measure partial deployment value of security protocol deployments. Further, we demonstrate that adoption rates of greater than fifty percent begin to show exponential return on security outcomes for both adopters and non-adopters alike.