Quantifying the Impact of IXP distruptions

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) play an increasingly important role in reducing the cost of interconnection and improving the latency between peers. In markets relying predominantly on peering (as opposed to transit), IXPs have become central points in the Internet topology and disruptions can severely affect connectivity for networks that exchange traffic in these IXPs. Given the frequency of disruptions (Hurricane Maria in 2017, Internet shutdown in Bangladesh in 2024), it is imperative to quantify the impact IXP facility disruptions, and quantify the impact of such events. In this work, our objective is to study IXP disruptions, such as facility closures and temporary disconnections, by using a mixture of inference-based identification and historical active measurement data(from RIPE and CAIDA) to quantify the impact of disruptions, as well as identify the IXPs that would potentially have the highest impact on end users.