March 18, 2026
New routes, old beefs
Switzerland Built an Alternative to BGP
Switzerland says it can stop internet hijacks — commenters are split
TLDR: ETH Zürich’s SCION aims to replace the internet’s creaky routing with verified, secure paths. Commenters split between applause and skepticism, demanding real deployments and vendor support while cracking jokes about ETH Zürich always being the star—making this a big idea with a credibility test coming next.
Switzerland wants to rebuild the internet’s map, and the crowd has feelings. The old traffic director, BGP, let anyone shout “I own this road!” without proof, leading to hijacks and outages. ETH Zürich’s SCION promises a fresh start: verified routes, fewer leaks, and no more bolting security onto a 40-year-old frame. Professor Adrian Perrig even called today’s setup a boat full of holes, and the comments turned that into a meme: “Retire the bucket, bring a new hull!”
But the vibe is half cheer, half side-eye. 112233 loved seeing BGP called out, then instantly asked where the SCION patches are for common routers and teased the need for “a company like Cisco.” ThePowerOfFuet went wholesome: “Sounds great—good luck rolling it out!” 4ggr0 joked that every Swiss tech headline is basically an ETH Zürich ad, which, to be fair, is on brand for ETH. jamesvza shrugged, “old article, still relevant”—translation: if this is the future, please ship it already. Between hype and hesitation, the hot take showdown is clear: is SCION Swiss precision or just Swiss promise? The internet’s map might get redrawn, but commenters want receipts, not rocket metaphors.
Key Points
- •BGP has critical, longstanding security weaknesses due to lack of native verification of route ownership, enabling hijacks, leaks, and interception.
- •Incremental mechanisms like RPKI, BGPsec, and ROA mitigate some issues but do not solve BGP’s foundational design problems.
- •SCION, developed at ETH Zürich and led by Adrian Perrig, proposes a new routing architecture with security built in from the ground up.
- •Perrig launched SCION in 2009, arguing that true security requires redesign rather than bolting on patches; peers initially viewed this as risky.
- •Independent expert Kevin Curran supports the view that past fixes are ‘Band-Aids,’ and the article highlights missing cryptographic custody in current routing.