Optimising Firewall Performance in Dynamic Networks

More and more devices connect to the internet, this means that a lot sensitive information will be stored in various networks. In order to secure this information and manage the large amount of inevitable network traffic that these devices create, an optimised firewall is needed. In order to meet this demand, the thesis proposes two algorithms for solving the problem. The first algorithm will minimise the rule matching time by using a simple condition for performing swapping that both preserves the firewall consistency, the firewall integrity and ensures a greedy reduction of the matching time. The solution is novel in itself and can be considered as a generalisation of the algorithm proposed by Fulp in the paper 'Optimization of network firewall policies using ordered sets and directed acyclical graphs'. The second algorithm will read the network traffic and provide network statistics to the first algorithm. The solution is a novel modification of the algorithm by Oommen and Rueda in the paper 'Stochastic learning-based weak estimation of multinomial random variables and its applications to pattern recognition in non-stationary environments'. It will be shown that both algorithms, through experiments, are able to satisfy the problem of optimising a firewall

Dynamic Ordering of Firewall Rules Using a Novel Swapping Window-based Paradigm

Designing and implementing efficient firewall strategies in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT) is far from trivial. This is because, as time proceeds, an increasing number of devices will be connected, accessed and controlled on the Internet. Additionally, an ever-increasingly amount of sensitive information will be stored on various networks. A good and effi- cient firewall strategy will attempt to secure this information, and to also manage the large amount of inevitable network traffic that these devices create. The goal of this paper is to propose a framework for designing optimized firewalls for the IoT. This paper deals with two fundamental challenges/problems encountered in such firewalls. The first problem is associated with the so-called “Rule Matching” (RM) time problem. In this regard, we propose a simple condition for performing the swapping of the firewall’s rules, and by satisfying this condition, we can guarantee that apart from preserving the firewall’s consistency and integrity, we can also ensure a greedy reduction in the matching time. It turns out that though our proposed novel solution is relatively simple, it can be perceived to be a generalization of the algorithm proposed by Fulp [1]. However, as opposed to Fulp’s solution, our swapping condition considers rules that are not necessarily consecutive. It rather invokes a novel concept that we refer to as the “swapping window”. The second contribution of our paper is a novel “batch”- based traffic estimator that provides network statistics to the firewall placement optimizer. The traffic estimator is a subtle but modified batch-based embodiment of the Stochastic Learning Weak Estimator (SLWE) proposed by Oommen and Rueda [2]. The paper contains the formal properties of this estimator. Further, by performing a rigorous suite of experiments, we demonstrate that both algorithms are capable of optimizing the constraints imposed for obtaining an efficient firewal

Dynamic Ordering of Firewall Rules Using a Novel Swapping Window-based Paradigm

Designing and implementing efficient firewall strategies in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT) is far from trivial. This is because, as time proceeds, an increasing number of devices will be connected, accessed and controlled on the Internet. Additionally, an ever-increasingly amount of sensitive information will be stored on various networks. A good and effi- cient firewall strategy will attempt to secure this information, and to also manage the large amount of inevitable network traffic that these devices create. The goal of this paper is to propose a framework for designing optimized firewalls for the IoT. This paper deals with two fundamental challenges/problems encountered in such firewalls. The first problem is associated with the so-called “Rule Matching” (RM) time problem. In this regard, we propose a simple condition for performing the swapping of the firewall’s rules, and by satisfying this condition, we can guarantee that apart from preserving the firewall’s consistency and integrity, we can also ensure a greedy reduction in the matching time. It turns out that though our proposed novel solution is relatively simple, it can be perceived to be a generalization of the algorithm proposed by Fulp [1]. However, as opposed to Fulp’s solution, our swapping condition considers rules that are not necessarily consecutive. It rather invokes a novel concept that we refer to as the “swapping window”. The second contribution of our paper is a novel “batch”- based traffic estimator that provides network statistics to the firewall placement optimizer. The traffic estimator is a subtle but modified batch-based embodiment of the Stochastic Learning Weak Estimator (SLWE) proposed by Oommen and Rueda [2]. The paper contains the formal properties of this estimator. Further, by performing a rigorous suite of experiments, we demonstrate that both algorithms are capable of optimizing the constraints imposed for obtaining an efficient firewal

On optimizing firewall performance in dynamic networks by invoking a novel swapping window-based paradigm

Designing and implementing efficient firewall strategies in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT) is far from trivial. This is because, as time proceeds, an increasing number of devices will be connected, accessed and controlled on the Internet. Additionally, an everincreasingly amount of sensitive information will be stored on various networks. A good and efficient firewall strategy will attempt to secure this information, and to also manage the large amount of inevitable network traffic that these devices create. The goal of this paper is to propose a framework for designing optimized firewalls for the IoT. This paper deals with two fundamental challenges/problems encountered in such firewalls. The first problem is associated with the so-called “Rule Matching” (RM) time problem. Here, we propose a simple condition for performing the swapping of the firewall’s rules, using which, we can guarantee that the firewall’s consistency and integrity, and also ensure a greedy reduction in the matching time. Unlike the state of the art, our swapping condition considers rules that are not necessarily consecutive, using a novel concept referred to as a “swapping window”. The second contribution of our paper is a novel “batch” based traffic estimator that provides network statistics to the firewall placement optimizer. The traffic estimator is a subtle but modified batch-based embodiment of the Stochastic Learning Weak Estimator (SLWE). Further, by performing a rigorous suite of experiments, we demonstrate that both algorithms are capable of optimizing the constraints imposed for obtaining an efficient firewall