A novel approach to counter denial of service attacks against transport network resources
Stefan Hofmann, Mohamed Louizi, Dieter Stoll · Bell Labs Technical Journal · 2009
A new generation of optical transport networks (OTNs) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks is currently emerging. Their control plane for fast transport path creation, protection, and restoration is inevitable for cost effectiveness. Such automatically switched optical networks (ASONs) are susceptible to denial of service (DoS) attacks at their user network interface (UNI) and external network node interface (E-NNI) access points. Attacks against transport resources aim to prevent users from setting up transport connections, such as paths in OTNs or wavelengths in WDM networks. We present novel concepts for detecting such attacks and identifying the attackers, covering both 'simple' and distributed DoS (DDoS) attacks. We have analyzed a variety of potential attack scenarios by means of simulation to validate the detection methods and the framework for effectiveness. Our results indicate that the framework exhibits good detection rates for the DDoS attacks mentioned earlier. After discussing the problem and methods chosen to address it, we explain the results of our analysis.