Announcing the 2024 ARIN Community Grant Recipients

By Amanda Gauldin – Project Manager

Now in its sixth year, the ARIN Community Grant Program provides funding for projects that improve the Internet and make positive contributions to the Internet community in the ARIN region. We are pleased to announce our 2024 grant recipients and share the impactful projects they will be working on.

Exploring Potential Use Cases of RPKI Signed Checklist (RSC) Under RFC 9323

Internet Society | Reston, Virginia, USA | Grant amount: US$20,000

Funding from the ARIN Community Grant program will enable the Internet Society (ISOC) to explore the potential of RPKI Signed Checklists (RSC), aiming to integrate this promising technology into initiatives that enhance Internet infrastructure worldwide. This work aligns with ISOC’s mission to support and safeguard the Internet as a resource that is accessible and secure for all.

This project entails a thorough review of RFC 9323 to understand the technical specifications of RSC. ISOC will identify and document various use cases demonstrating how RSC can enhance Internet security, prevent fraud, and support digital transactions. An impact assessment will be conducted to evaluate the benefits of RSC and uncover any existing vulnerabilities. Discussions with the Number Resource Organization and Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are planned to evaluate operational readiness and solicit feedback. Community engagement will ensure a well-rounded understanding of RSC’s implications, aiming to foster consensus and identify necessary policy and infrastructure adjustments.

Project objectives are to:

• Understand the technical and governance implications of RPKI Signed Checklists (RSC).
• Identify potential applications and assess strategies for facilitating widespread adoption and implementation of this technology within broader Internet security efforts.
• Develop strategic recommendations for leveraging RSC in enhancing the resilience and reliability of global routing.

Mitigating Internet Abuse Through IP Addresses: A Data-based Analysis

DNS Research Federation | Oxford, United Kingdom | Grant amount: US$20,000

When discussing Internet abuse, we often think of DNS abuse. However, numbering resources are also misused in cybercrime. The DNS Research Federation (DNSRF) has conducted some preliminary research on how IP addresses and Autonomous System Numbers are used to facilitate phishing and ransomware attacks with URLs directly using numbering resources. Specifically, through its blog entitled “Use of Subdomain Providers Gains Popularity as a Mechanism to Launch Phishing Attacks” (August 2023), DNSRF found that when it comes to malware attacks, most malware URLs avoid using domain names and use a raw IP address directly. The proposed project seeks to shed light on this issue by developing live indicators that provide information about how numbering resources are misused in phishing and malware attacks. The end goal is to raise awareness of this issue among network operators and incident response teams to enable informed action.

Project objectives are to:

• Develop live, online indicators to provide up-to-date data analysis on Internet abuse that relies on numbering resources.
• Provide network operators and incident response teams with data on reported phishing and malware URLs that directly use IP addresses for these entities to devise mitigation strategies.
• Provide RIR-specific data, including ARIN-specific stats, using geolocation.

Applicant Appreciation

We appreciate the time and effort all applicants put into submitting their projects for consideration, and we look forward to continuing to support operational and research projects that improve the overall Internet industry and Internet user environment, advance ARIN’s mission, and broadly benefit the Internet community within the ARIN region.

To learn more about past grant recipients and project outcomes, check out the grant reports published on the blog.

Future Grants

If you are interested in applying for a grant next year, look out for our call for applications to be issued in the spring of 2025. Information on how to apply will be posted to our ARIN Community Grant Program page, and we will send out an email via the ARIN Announce mailing list once the application period opens.

We look forward to continuing to make a positive and lasting impact on the Internet together.

Post written by:

Amanda Gauldin
Project Manager

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