New enhancements to the SOCKS communication network security protocol: Schemes and performance evaluation

Abstract

In this paper we propose two new enhancements to the SOCKS protocol in the areas of IP multicasting and UDP tunneling. Most network firewalls deployed at the entrance to a private network block multicast traffic. This is because of potential security threats inherent with IP multicast. Multicasting is the backbone of many Internet technologies like voice and video conferencing, real time gaming, multimedia streaming, and online stock quotes, among others. There is a need to be able to safely and securely allow multicast streams to enter into and leave a protected enterprise network. Securing multicast streams is challenging. It poses many architectural issues. The SOCKS protocol is typically implemented in a network firewall as an application-layer gateway. Our first enhancement in the area of IP multicast to the SOCKS protocol is to enable the application of security and access control policies and safely allow multicast traffic to enter into the boundaries of a protected enterprise network. The second enhancement we propose is to allow the establishment of a tunnel between two protected networks that have SOCKS based firewalls to transport UDP datagrams.