The first generation of security allowed network operators to specify a MAIL-FROM attribute, requiring that updates be sent from a specific email address. Next, (B)CRYPT-PW / MD5-PW password hash authentication was added, and finally a PGP-KEY attribute was added, allowing users to cryptographically sign submitted edits. Subsequent work by the  Regional Internet Registries created additional IRRs which strictly tied permission to advertise IP blocks to RIR allocation data.
The Internet Routing Registry system is an artifact of the 1990s era of the Internet, as the Internet's economy and governance were in transition from an academic mode to a commercial mode, and predate the era of ubiquitous cryptography. The RADb initially relied upon a trust model, in which write access to the database was not strictly controlled. A write-permissions access model was subsequently added, in which individuals or roles representing each Autonomous System had authority to write records related to that AS, including which IP address blocks it would originate routing advertisements for, and which other Autonomous Systems were allowed to advertise transit routing paths to it.