Mitigating DDoS attacks using OpenFlow-based software defined networking

Over the last years, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks have become an increasing threat on the Internet, with recent attacks reaching traffic volumes of up to 500 Gbps. To make matters worse, web-based facilities that offer “DDoS-as-a-service” (i.e., Booters) allow for the layman to launch attacks in the order of tens of Gbps in exchange for only a few euros. A recent development in networking is the principle of Software Defined Networking (SDN), and related technologies such as OpenFlow. In SDN, the control plane and data plane of the network are decoupled. This has several advantages, such as centralized control over forwarding decisions, dynamic updating of forwarding rules, and easier and more flexible network configuration. Given these advantages, we expect SDN to be well-suited for DDoS attack mitigation. Typical mitigation solutions, however, are not built using SDN. In this paper we propose to design and to develop an OpenFlow-based mitigation architecture for DDoS attacks. The research involves looking at the applicability of OpenFlow, as well as studying existing solutions built on other technologies. The research is as yet in its beginning phase and will contribute towards a Ph.D. thesis after four years

Toward Network-based DDoS Detection in Software-defined Networks

To combat susceptibility of modern computing systems to cyberattack, identifying and disrupting malicious traffic without human intervention is essential. To accomplish this, three main tasks for an effective intrusion detection system have been identified: monitor network traffic, categorize and identify anomalous behavior in near real time, and take appropriate action against the identified threat. This system leverages distributed SDN architecture and the principles of Artificial Immune Systems and Self-Organizing Maps to build a network-based intrusion detection system capable of detecting and terminating DDoS attacks in progress

Detailed Review on The Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks in Software Defined Networks (SDNs) and Defense Strategies

The development of Software Defined Networking (SDN) has altered the landscape of computer networking in recent years. Its scalable architecture has become a blueprint for the design of several advanced future networks. To achieve improve and efficient monitoring, control and management capabilities of the network, software defined networks differentiate or decouple the control logic from the data forwarding plane. As a result, logical control is centralized solely in the controller. Due to the centralized nature, SDNs are exposed to several vulnerabilities such as Spoofing, Flooding, and primarily Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) among other attacks. In effect, the performance of SDN degrades based on these attacks. This paper presents a comprehensive review of several DoS and DDoS defense/mitigation strategies and classifies them into distinct classes with regards to the methodologies employed. Furthermore, suggestions were made to enhance current mitigation strategies accordingly

LAMP: Prompt Layer 7 Attack Mitigation with Programmable Data Planes

While there are various methods to detect application layer attacks or intrusion attempts on an individual end host, it is not efficient to provide all end hosts in the network with heavy-duty defense systems or software firewalls. In this work, we leverage a new concept of programmable data planes, to directly react on alerts raised by a victim and prevent further attacks on the whole network by blocking the attack at the network edge. We call our design LAMP, Layer 7 Attack Mitigation with Programmable data planes. We implemented LAMP using the P4 data plane programming language and evaluated its effectiveness and efficiency in the Behavioral Model (bmv2) environment

An SDN-based Approach For Defending Against Reflective DDoS Attacks

Distributed Reflective Denial of Service (DRDoS) attacks are an immanent threat to Internet services. The potential scale of such attacks became apparent in March 2018 when a memcached-based attack peaked at 1.7 Tbps. Novel services built upon UDP increase the need for automated mitigation mechanisms that react to attacks without prior knowledge of the actual application protocols used. With the flexibility that software-defined networks offer, we developed a new approach for defending against DRDoS attacks; it not only protects against arbitrary DRDoS attacks but is also transparent for the attack target and can be used without assistance of the target host operator. The approach provides a robust mitigation system which is protocol-agnostic and effective in the defense against DRDoS attacks

TPAAD: two‐phase authentication system for denial of service attack detection and mitigation using machine learning in software‐defined network.

Software-defined networking (SDN) has received considerable attention and adoption owing to its inherent advantages, such as enhanced scalability, increased adaptability, and the ability to exercise centralized control. However, the control plane of the system is vulnerable to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, which are a primary focus for attackers. These attacks have the potential to result in substantial delays and packet loss. In this study, we present a novel system called Two-Phase Authentication for Attack Detection that aims to enhance the security of SDN by mitigating DoS attacks. The methodology utilized in our study involves the implementation of packet filtration and machine learning classification techniques, which are subsequently followed by the targeted restriction of malevolent network traffic. Instead of completely deactivating the host, the emphasis lies on preventing harmful communication. Support vector machine and K-nearest neighbours algorithms were utilized for efficient detection on the CICDoS 2017 dataset. The deployed model was utilized within an environment designed for the identification of threats in SDN. Based on the observations of the banned queue, our system allows a host to reconnect when it is no longer contributing to malicious traffic. The experiments were run on a VMware Ubuntu, and an SDN environment was created using Mininet and the RYU controller. The results of the tests demonstrated enhanced performance in various aspects, including the reduction of false positives, the minimization of central processing unit utilization and control channel bandwidth consumption, the improvement of packet delivery ratio, and the decrease in the number of flow requests submitted to the controller. These results confirm that our Two-Phase Authentication for Attack Detection architecture identifies and mitigates SDN DoS attacks with low overhead

An intelligent system to detect slow denial of service attacks in software-defined networks

Slow denial of service attack (DoS) is a tricky issue in software-defined network (SDN) as it uses less bandwidth to attack a server. In this paper, a slow-rate DoS attack called Slowloris is detected and mitigated on Apache2 and Nginx servers using a methodology called an intelligent system for slow DoS detection using machine learning (ISSDM) in SDN. Data generation module of ISSDM generates dataset with response time, the number of connections, timeout, and pattern match as features. Data are generated in a real environment using Apache2, Nginx server, Zodiac FX OpenFlow switch and Ryu controller. Monte Carlo simulation is used to estimate threshold values for attack classification. Further, ISSDM performs header inspection using regular expressions to mark flows as legitimate or attacked during data generation. The proposed feature selection module of ISSDM, called blended statistical and information gain (BSIG), selects those features that contribute best to classification. These features are used for classification by various machine learning and deep learning models. Results are compared with feature selection methods like Chi-square, T-test, and information gain