How MIT researchers use machine learning to detect IP hijackings before they occur

The internet uses routing tables to determine how and where data is sent and received. Without accurate and reliable tables, the internet would be like a highway system with no signs or signals to direct the traffic to the right places. Of course, cybercriminals find a way to corrupt just about everything that makes the internet work, and routing is no exception. IP hijacking, or BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) hijacking, is a process in which hackers and cybercriminals take over groups of IP addresses by corrupting the routing tables that use BGP. The purpose is to redirect traffic on the public internet or on private business networks to the hijackers' own networks where they can intercept, view, and even modify the packets of data.