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Interview question · Network Security & Protocols

What is BGP hijacking, how does RPKI route origin validation help, and what does it not prevent?

The internet's routing system still largely believes what networks announce. The strong answer explains why a more specific prefix wins, what RPKI signs, and why path manipulation survives it.

hardNewPreparation tags: Google, Amazon, CiscoUpdated Nov 2026

The internet's routing system still largely believes what networks announce. The strong answer explains why a more specific prefix wins, what RPKI signs, and why path manipulation survives it.

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What would you say before reading the answer?

  1. 01 State the assumptions your answer depends on.
  2. 02 Explain the mechanism and choose a control.
  3. 03 Name a condition that would change your decision.

The worked answer includes an approach, scoring criteria and follow-up questions. Compare the reasoning with your own.

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What if · the follow-ups in this answer

The answer works through 6 follow-ups like an interviewer would

Traffic to a company's IP range is briefly routed through another network on another continent.

  1. How does BGP routing work?
  2. What is a hijack, and what is a leak?
  3. What does RPKI do?
  4. What are RPKI's limits?
  5. What should the company do?
  6. What would you implement?

Each rung has a nudge, a model answer, the principle that carries over and the weak answer to avoid. Premium opens every answer and ladder.

UP NEXT ON YOUR JOURNEY
Next in this trackHow do you find out what your organisation exposes to the internet, and keep that list accurate?Next in this trackWith most traffic encrypted, what can network monitoring still detect, and how would you design it?Next in this trackExplain the network stack layer by layer: what lives at each layer, how it is attacked, and which control works there.
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