An adaptive probabilistic marking scheme for fast and secure traceback

Abstract

IP traceback can be used to find direct generator(s) and path(s) of attacking traffic. Probabilistic marking schemes, as one type of IP traceback technologies, have been most studied, but they are difficult to fast reconstruct attacking path(s) and defend against spoofed marks generated by attacking source(s). In this paper, we present Adaptive Probabilistic Marking scheme (APM). In APM, when each packet enters the first-hop router, its TTL value is set to a uniform value, and when it is forwarded by routers in the network, each intermediate router decreases the TTL value by one. Consequently, each intermediate router may infer the router-level hop number that each packet has already traveled, and then correspondingly marks the packet with the probability inversely proportional to the router-level hop number. APM is focused on the probability with which a router marks a packet, and APM can cooperate with other probabilistic marking schemes. NS2 simulation experiments prove that, in APM, the time for the victim to receive necessary marks for the path reconstruction is reduced by more than 20% compared with existing probabilistic marking schemes, and spoofed marks cannot reach the victim and influence the traceback process.