Keeping intruders at bay: A graph-theoretic approach to reducing the probability of successful network intrusions

Paulo Shakarian, Nimish Kulkarni, Massimiliano Albanese, Sushil Jajodia

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is well known that not all intrusions can be prevented and additional lines of defense are needed to deal with intruders. However, most current approaches use honey-nets relying on the assumption that simply attracting intruders into honeypots would thwart the attack. In this chapter, we propose a different and more realistic approach, which aims at delaying intrusions, so as to control the probability that an intruder will reach a certain goal within a specified amount of time. Our method relies on analyzing a graphical representation of the computer network’s logical layout and an associated probabilistic model of the adversary’s behavior. We then artificially modify this representation by adding "distraction clusters"-collections of interconnected virtual machines-at key points of the network in order to increase complexity for the intruders and delay the intrusion. We study this problem formally, showing it to be NP-hard and then provide an approximation algorithm that exhibits several useful properties. Finally, we compare recent approach for selecting a subset of distraction clusters with our prototypal implementation of the proposed framework and then unveil experimental results.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationE-Business and Telecommunications - 11th International Joint Conference, ICETE 2014, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsMohammad S. Obaidat, Joaquim Filipe, Andreas Holzinger
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages191-211
Number of pages21
ISBN (Print)9783319259147
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015
Event11th International Joint Conference on E-Business and Telecommunications, ICETE 2014 - Vienna, Austria
Duration: Aug 28 2014Aug 30 2014

Publication series

NameCommunications in Computer and Information Science
Volume554
ISSN (Print)1865-0929

Other

Other11th International Joint Conference on E-Business and Telecommunications, ICETE 2014
Country/TerritoryAustria
CityVienna
Period8/28/148/30/14

Keywords

  • Adversarial modeling
  • Graph theory
  • Moving target defense

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science(all)
  • Mathematics(all)

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