I take an IST 220-Data Communications class.
This is a direct verbatim excerpt from the textbook.
I bolded the parts I thought might be relevant to the Nap Attack.
Now I know how important the Nap Attack is, they must be stopped.
This is a direct verbatim excerpt from the textbook.
I bolded the parts I thought might be relevant to the Nap Attack.
At the top of the internet hierarchy sit the network access points (NAPs). NAPs are exchange points for internet traffic, similar to Class 1 COs in the PSTN. NAPs formed the original backbone of the internet when it was all maintained by the United States government. In the 1990s, the government handed the operation of NAPs to private companies, with the understanding that those companies would directly link their networks and exchange Internet traffic over those links, a process known as peering. NAPs are currently operated and maintained by companies, such as SBC, Sprint, and Worldcom.
Recall that the higher you go in the PSTN hierarchy, the fewer COs you'll find in that level in the hierarchy. The same holds true for the Internet hierarchy. In the United States, there are five large NAPs. They are located in Chicago, New Jersey, San Francisco, San Jose, and in northern Virginia just outside of Washington, DC. Two of these NAPs are also known as metropolitan area exchanes (MAEs). The northern Virginia MAE is know as MAE East whereas the San Jose MAE is known as MAE West.
Because NAPs are a connection point for aggregated Internet traffic, they experience the highest demand for bandwidth. They are also a potential source of network congestion. If you think of data traffic in the same terms as automobile traffic, you can regard NAPs as a point where many different busy highways merge. At rush hour, traffic at this point would become heavy. The required time for traffic to pass through would become exceedingly long. Indeed, the same phenomenon happens at NAPs during periods of heavy traffic (such as 8 a.m. on a weekday). This is why sometimes, even if you have a high-bandwidth connection to your ISP, it takes longer than usual to download a Web page.
Recall that the higher you go in the PSTN hierarchy, the fewer COs you'll find in that level in the hierarchy. The same holds true for the Internet hierarchy. In the United States, there are five large NAPs. They are located in Chicago, New Jersey, San Francisco, San Jose, and in northern Virginia just outside of Washington, DC. Two of these NAPs are also known as metropolitan area exchanes (MAEs). The northern Virginia MAE is know as MAE East whereas the San Jose MAE is known as MAE West.
Because NAPs are a connection point for aggregated Internet traffic, they experience the highest demand for bandwidth. They are also a potential source of network congestion. If you think of data traffic in the same terms as automobile traffic, you can regard NAPs as a point where many different busy highways merge. At rush hour, traffic at this point would become heavy. The required time for traffic to pass through would become exceedingly long. Indeed, the same phenomenon happens at NAPs during periods of heavy traffic (such as 8 a.m. on a weekday). This is why sometimes, even if you have a high-bandwidth connection to your ISP, it takes longer than usual to download a Web page.
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