Attack identification for software-defined networking based on attack trees and extension innovation methods

Abstract

Taking security management of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) into consideration, the identification of attacks due to the SDN-specific vulnerabilities is of great significance. Thus in this case, formalization of security attacks becomes essential in promoting the identification process of attacks. This paper then proposes an integrated approach of attack trees and extension innovation methods from the viewpoint of attack identification for security management of SDN. It first uses attack trees to identify various attacks for security management of SDN, consisting of both the basic attack tree model and the augment attack tree model. Furthermore, it considers the use of extension innovation methods to improve attack trees by means of formalization, including application of the extension analysis method to the basic attack tree model and application of the extension transformation method to the augment attack tree model. Finally, case study about a Denial of Service (DoS) attack on the SDN controller validates the feasibility of proposed integrated approach based on attack trees and extension innovation methods.