Internet exchange points are ignored, vulnerable, and absent from infrastructure protection plans

The article argues that Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) are essential yet underrecognized critical infrastructure and calls for their inclusion in cybersecurity, resilience, and disaster preparedness strategies. It outlines systemic risks arising from centralization and dependency on major IXPs, highlights governance and security gaps amid threats like BGP leaks and hijacks, and proposes measures such as a European IXP Resilience Observatory and shared incident response frameworks to strengthen internet resilience.