What is RPKI?
Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) is a new technology developed by the IETF (RFC 6480) that is used to support secure Internet routing to prevent route hijacking and other attacks on networks. It is essentially a tool that allows network operators to prove that an IP or IPv6 address, or block of addresses, really belongs to that organisation.
The Regional Internet Registry (RIR), RIPE in Europe, that assigned the address space will provide a digital certificate validating that you are indeed the owner of that address space. With this signed certificate, you can prove to a third party that a prefix is really yours and that you legitimately announce it to other networks (e.g. to your Transit provider or when peering at Internet Exchange Points).
How has Titania Networks implemented RPKI?
Our Network Operations team has installed route validation software (Routinator) on servers in Dublin and Milan, and we use these to check if the routes we receive from our peers and transit providers are valid, invalid or not found/unknown and make routing decisions based on them. These route validation servers pull regular updates throughout the day from all the RIRs (ARIN, APNIC, AFRINIC, LACNIC and RIPE) so they are constantly up to date.