Social network routing (SNR) is a technique for determining the paths that data takes across networks based on relationships and activity at the user and application layer. The routing layer observes the “social” activity in the layers above it and, based on those observations, makes routing decisions. This concept has been articulated in a number of technical initiatives.
BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
BAE Systems uses biological systems as an inspiration and metaphor for the design of embedded software that allows both small-scale and large-scale distributed systems to be self-sustaining, self-configuring, and self-defending. Biological models are used to promote the reliability and security of embedded and distributed sensors, and control systems.
APPLICATION-INFORMED ROUTING
For mobile, ad hoc networks (MANETs) BAE Systems has explored application-informed routing (AIR), an implementation of SNR that creates a symbiotic relationship between the routing layer and the application layer. AIR depends on applications using discovery and self-organization as a core design pattern; it uses visibility into the application layer’s discovery processes to identify routes. By making route discovery an emergent phenomenon, AIR avoids the fragility and lack of scalability inherent to mechanical approaches to route finding. Having avoided construction and dissemination of routing tables, AIR allows MANETs to scale much larger sizes than current, conventional routing protocols.
NETWORK SECURITY
Another application of social network routing is in network security for wide area, multi-organization networks like the Internet. Current research on securing networks focuses on mechanical approaches; for example, adding authentication and authorization to layer-4 protocols, and making the network “deny by default.”
ORGANIC-MODEL NETWORK SECURITY
An organic-model network security leverages social network routing to verify the “social membership” of participants and identify a principal’s networking enablers. This feature creates economic incentives for proactive security enforcement, in that a principal that enables other principals to misbehave on the network will discover that the rest of the network will cease to interact with him.
A social network routing approach to network security eliminates the vast amount of opportunistic network attacks that are currently present on the Internet without requiring universal identities, centralized security management, or managed access control.
