A Security Policy Protocol for Detection and Prevention of Internet Control Message Protocol Attacks in Software Defined Networks

Abstract

Owing to the latest advancements in networking devices and functionalities, there is a need to build future intelligent networks that provide intellectualization, activation, and customization. Software-defined networks (SDN) are one of the latest and most trusted technologies that provide a method of network management that provides network virtualization. Although traditional networks still have a strong presence in the industry, software-defined networks have begun to replace them at faster rates. When network technologies emerge at a steady rate, SDN will be implemented at higher rates in the upcoming years in all fields. Although SDN technology removes the complexity of tying control and data plane together over traditional networks, certain aspects such as security, controllability, and economy of network resources are vulnerable. Among these aspects, security is one of the main concerns that are to be viewed seriously as far as the applications of SDN are concerned. This paper presents the most recent security issues SDN environment followed by preventive mechanisms. This study focuses on Internet control message protocol (ICMP) attacks in SDN networks. This study proposes a security policy protocol (SPP) to detect attacks that target devices such as switches and the SDN controller in the SDN networks. The mechanism is based on ICMP attacks, which are the main source of flooding attacks in the SDN networks. The proposed model focuses on two aspects: security policy process verification and client authentication verification. Experimental results shows that the proposed model can effectively defend against flooding attacks in SDN network environments.