When DARPA first envisioned what would become the Internet, its primary goal was survivability in the face of failure. The system must continue to supply communications service, even though networks and gateways might be failing.
In light of the last month’s massive Internet outage on the east coast, one can’t help but ask, What happened to DARPA’s vision?
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – DARPA – is part of the Department of Defense, created for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. In the early 1960s, DARPA began to investigate techniques and technologies for interlinking packet networks of various kinds.
The first Internet, then known as ARPANET, was brought online in December 1969. Initially, it connected four major computers at UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UCSB, and the University of Utah. By June 1970, MIT, Harvard, BBN, and Systems Development Corp (SDC) in Santa Monica, Cal. were added to the network. By January 1971, Stanford, MIT’s Lincoln Labs, Carnegie-Mellon, and Case-Western Reserve U were added. In months to come, NASA/Ames, Mitre, Burroughs, RAND, and the U of Illinois plugged in. The list of connected computers grew exponentially from there on. Email for ARPANET was adapted in 1972.
As a military agency, DARPA was primarily concerned about the Internet’s security, so the system was designed to provide a communications network that would work even if some of the major sites were down. If the most direct route was not available, routers would direct traffic around the network via alternate routes. But DARPA failed to anticipate what would happen when the Internet fell into the hands of non-military developers who had very different agenda in mind.
Dawn the 21st century and The Internet of Things. The internet doesn’t just operate to preserve the security and integrity of military communications. Now the Internet is everywhere and in everything, allowing you to interact with your kitchen appliances, your webcams, your DVRs, your automobiles, your door locks, your… you name it. And each of these appliances is a chink in the Internet’s armor, an unguarded gateway for hackers to enter and do their mischief.
Last month’s mischief caused major gridlock and shut down some of the most popular Internet sites, including Twitter, Spotify, Netflix, Disqus, and PayPal. Massive amounts of information were maliciously sent with the specific goal of overwhelming servers. There was just too much traffic to handle. There was no way to redirect packets of information to alternate nodes in the system.
DARPA’s Internet failed. The system meant to protect our communications and ensure national security has become one of our greatest security liabilities.
Isn’t irony grand?