SNMP-based Network Security Management

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Security policy and security techniques have long been major research topics, but little work has been reported on management of distributed security applications other than Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). We believe management of secure applications will see dramatic growth as adequate tools become available. This paper reviews security management issues and suggests management objects for use by Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) tools to collect, log, and display events and alert operators to possible trouble. We focus on the issues of adapting the necessary status and control mechanisms (management infrastructure and agents) to accommodate security management needs. To make a complete security Management Information Base (MIB), additional MIB modules must be defined for firewalls (packet filtering and proxy servers), security audit trails and IDS management parameters. Security firewalls and IDS applications are assessed for management via SNMP and are proposed as future case studies. The Packet Filter Information Protocol (PFIP) is presented as a method to allow propagation of packet filter information among compatible firewall hosts and routers in an IP-based network. We use a scenario of corporate firewalls to assess concepts of correctness, sufficiency and completeness. The properties of SNMP, version 2 that support secure management operations are reviewed and we propose further work toward an SNMP-based Security Management prototype.KeywordsFirewallsManagement Information Base (MIB)Network ManagementSNMPPacket Filter Information Protocol (PFIP)Security Application ManagementSecurity Management.