Simulative Evaluation of Security Monitoring Systems based on SDN

Abstract: Software Defined Networks (SDN) constitute the new communication paradigm ofprogrammable computer networks. By decoupling the control and date plane the networkmanagement is easier and more flexible. However, the new architecture is vulnerable to anumber of security threats, which are able to harm the network. Network monitoringsystems are pivotal in order to protect the network. To this end, the evaluation of a networkmonitoring system is crucial before the deployment of it in the real environment. Networksimulators are the complementary part of the process as they are necessary during theevaluation of the new system’s performance at the design time. This work focuses on providing a complete simulation framework which is able to(i) support SDN architectures and the OpenFlow protocol, (ii) reproduce the impact ofcyber and physical attacks against the network and (iii) provide detection and mitigationtechniques to address Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. The performance of the designedmonitoring system will be evaluated in terms of accuracy, reactiveness and effectiveness.The work is an extension of INET framework of OMNeT++ network simulator.