Tactic 18. Bait-and-Switch
“Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War
A large parent company may be able to obtain peering where a smaller subsidiary may not. The Bait-and-Switch tactic leverages this fact by negotiating peering as a large traffic source or sink, and then announcing a different and much smaller traffic source or sink when setting up peering (Figure 11-33).
To illustrate, let’s assume that enterprise spin-off a’ seeks peering with ISP B. However, a’ is too small to be interesting from a peering perspective. It therefore leverages its relationship with the much larger and recognizable parent, enterprise A. Enterprise A negotiates peering with the ISP. When ISP B finds out that it is peering with the smaller a’ subsidiary, and receives only a small amount of customer traffic, the ISP may realize it was a victim of a bait and switch but keep the peering session anyway.
Figure 11-33. The peering negotiated isn’t always the peering acquired.