MTDSense: AI-Based Fingerprinting of Moving Target Defense Techniques in Software-Defined Networking

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Moghaddam, Tina, Yang, Guowei, Thapa, Chandra, Camtepe, Seyit, Kim, Dan Dongseong
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Moghaddam, Tina
Yang, Guowei
Thapa, Chandra
Camtepe, Seyit
Kim, Dan Dongseong
author_facet Moghaddam, Tina
Yang, Guowei
Thapa, Chandra
Camtepe, Seyit
Kim, Dan Dongseong
contents Moving target defenses (MTD) are proactive security techniques that enhance network security by confusing the attacker and limiting their attack window. MTDs have been shown to have significant benefits when evaluated against traditional network attacks, most of which are automated and untargeted. However, little has been done to address an attacker who is aware the network uses an MTD. In this work, we propose a novel approach named MTDSense, which can determine when the MTD has been triggered using the footprints the MTD operation leaves in the network traffic. MTDSense uses unsupervised clustering to identify traffic following an MTD trigger and extract the MTD interval. An attacker can use this information to maximize their attack window and tailor their attacks, which has been shown to significantly reduce the effectiveness of MTD. Through analyzing the attacker's approach, we propose and evaluate two new MTD update algorithms that aim to reduce the information leaked into the network by the MTD. We present an extensive experimental evaluation by creating, to our knowledge, the first dataset of the operation of an IP-shuffling MTD in a software-defined network. Our work reveals that despite previous results showing the effectiveness of MTD as a defense, traditional implementations of MTD are highly susceptible to a targeted attacker.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_03758
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle MTDSense: AI-Based Fingerprinting of Moving Target Defense Techniques in Software-Defined Networking
Moghaddam, Tina
Yang, Guowei
Thapa, Chandra
Camtepe, Seyit
Kim, Dan Dongseong
Cryptography and Security
Networking and Internet Architecture
Moving target defenses (MTD) are proactive security techniques that enhance network security by confusing the attacker and limiting their attack window. MTDs have been shown to have significant benefits when evaluated against traditional network attacks, most of which are automated and untargeted. However, little has been done to address an attacker who is aware the network uses an MTD. In this work, we propose a novel approach named MTDSense, which can determine when the MTD has been triggered using the footprints the MTD operation leaves in the network traffic. MTDSense uses unsupervised clustering to identify traffic following an MTD trigger and extract the MTD interval. An attacker can use this information to maximize their attack window and tailor their attacks, which has been shown to significantly reduce the effectiveness of MTD. Through analyzing the attacker's approach, we propose and evaluate two new MTD update algorithms that aim to reduce the information leaked into the network by the MTD. We present an extensive experimental evaluation by creating, to our knowledge, the first dataset of the operation of an IP-shuffling MTD in a software-defined network. Our work reveals that despite previous results showing the effectiveness of MTD as a defense, traditional implementations of MTD are highly susceptible to a targeted attacker.
title MTDSense: AI-Based Fingerprinting of Moving Target Defense Techniques in Software-Defined Networking
topic Cryptography and Security
Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.03758