The GMI Design Project

Designing a Global Internet Measurement Infrastructure

Security, Stability, and Resilience

The goal of the GMI project (Designing a Global Measurement Infrastructure to Improve Internet Security, or GMI3S) is to design a new generation of measurement infrastructure for the Internet, which will support collection, curation, archiving, and expanded sharing of data needed to advance critical scientific research on the security, stability, and resilience of Internet infrastructure.

Security of the Internet Infrastructure

Security of the Internet and its trustworthiness are subject to constant threats and attacks. Internet infrastructure security is a high priority for the security research community, but that community is greatly hindered by a lack of relevant data.

Our project attempts to improve this situation by gathering data that can inform the development of longlasting advances in security.

Focus on the Internet as a data transport service

Our focus is on the Internet as a data transport service, and the vulnerabilities specific to that layer: attacks on the Internet global routing system. Attacks that…

… deflect traffic to bogus destinations
… abuse the Domain Name System
… attacks the Certificate Authorities that underpin identity and authentication on the Internet
… spoof Internet addresses in order to disrupt regions of the Internet with untraceable traffic (Denial of Service attacks)

Broader Impacts

This design project will enable application of data intensive methods to study the global Internet infrastructure, supporting scientific and engineering advances to navigate current and future Internet-related harms. The project will contribute to a broad range of disciplines that now depend on data about the Internet, including network science, socioeconomic studies, international relations, and political science, and will play a key role in raising the next generation of U.S. leaders in information technology. The resulting capabilities to support data acquisition, curation, and sharing will have an inherent equalizing effect on the research community. Moreover, if successful, this cyberinfrastructure will increase the trustworthiness of the Internet for U.S. citizens and serve as a model for rest of the world.