News

Scientists depend on powerful research and education networks (RENs) to share vast amounts of data across institutions and borders. But hidden internet routing problems can quietly send that data off course — slowing research or exposing information to unintended parties. Because current tools don’t always catch these issues, network operators are often unaware they’re happening. University of California San Diego researchers at San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) — a pillar of the new School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences — are leading a new collaborative effort to detect and fix these vulnerabilities, strengthening the digital backbone of global science.

Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the new effort is called ROOTBEER — short for Routing Operations Observational Technology: Building to Enable Education and Research. The project brings together cybersecurity researchers at UC San Diego’s Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) with engineers at Internet2, which operates the national high-speed network that connects thousands of U.S. universities, research institutions, government entities and cultural organizations.

Every day, researchers around the world transfer massive volumes of data, from climate simulations and precise medical imaging to particle physics and astronomy. To streamline this process with minimal disruption to commercial networks, scientists rely on RENs as specialized internet pathways. These specialized grids connect universities, labs, observatories and hospitals — allowing massive datasets to flow directly between research institutions, across networks like Internet2.

When routing errors occur — such as from unintentional route leaks, or from unauthorized network hijacks — data intended for RENs can spill over into commercial networks, overloading the public infrastructure. Worse, this exposure can lead to the leakage of sensitive research data.

“For decades, the research community has lacked the operational visibility needed to truly secure scientific data flows across the internet,” noted SDSC Senior Research Scientist kc Claffy, CAIDA founder and principal investigator. “ROOTBEER is our effort to change that — by shining a light on routing anomalies in real time, we’re empowering network operators to protect the integrity of research traffic."

Led by Claffy, Internet2’s Steven Wallace and CAIDA’s Matthew Luckie, the ROOTBEER team is building a security-focused routing observatory and operational dashboard to detect these route leaks. This system will detect route leaks in real time, diagnose vulnerabilities and help research institutions align their routing policies with routing security best practices.

Project co-lead Steven Wallace has been working on tools to safeguard routing integrity across RENs and plans to use ROOTBEER to give REN operators the visibility and controls they need to prevent leaks before they happen.

“The nature of science today is distributed and data-intensive,” said Wallace, director of routing integrity at Internet2. “We’re helping ensure that the very networks that enable groundbreaking research remain secure and resilient.”

From Measurement to Mitigation

To address the problem, the ROOTBEER team will focus on three key strategies:

• Measurement and Analysis: Leverage active probing techniques developed to detect route leaks between RENs and commercial networks.
• Operational Dashboard: Build a user-friendly visualization platform to display real-time routing behaviors and flag anomalies.
• Community Engagement: Work with state and regional RENs and university partners to adopt new routing security protocols and best practices.

The goal is to transition cutting-edge research into operational tools, empowering network engineers across the U.S. to detect, diagnose and fix misrouting issues before they affect performance or data privacy.

“This project bridges the gap between internet measurement science and on-the-ground operations,” said Luckie, consulting research scientist at CAIDA and project co-lead for ROOTBEER. “And, it’s designed for long-term sustainability via integration with Internet2’s operational network management infrastructure.”

The ROOTBEER project reflects the broader goals of the NSF’s Cybersecurity Innovation for Cyberinfrastructure (CICI) program, which supports the development of technologies that protect the integrity and availability of U.S. scientific data.

“We see this work as foundational for the future of scientific collaboration,” Claffy said. “It’s not just about fixing today’s leaks — it’s about building trust into the infrastructure that accelerates scientific discoveries and innovations.”

This research is supported by the NSF (award no. OAC-2530871). The project runs from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2028.