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Orchestrating DDoS mitigation via blockchain-based network provider collaborations

Part of: Distributed Ledger Technologies: Papers Arising from Three Australian Symposia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2020

Adam Pavlidis Open the ORCID record for Adam Pavlidis [Opens in a new window] ,
Marinos Dimolianis ,
Kostas Giotis ,
Loukas Anagnostou ,
Nikolaos Kostopoulos ,
Theocharis Tsigkritis ,
Ilias Kotinas ,
Dimitrios Kalogeras  and
Vasilis Maglaris
Adam Pavlidis
Affiliation:
Network Management and Optimal Design Laboratory (NETMODE), National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece, e-mails: apavlidis@netmode.ntua.gr, mdimolianis@netmode.ntua.gr, nkostopoulos@netmode.ntua.gr, dkalo@netmode.ntua.gr, maglaris@netmode.ntua.gr
Marinos Dimolianis
Affiliation:
Network Management and Optimal Design Laboratory (NETMODE), National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece, e-mails: apavlidis@netmode.ntua.gr, mdimolianis@netmode.ntua.gr, nkostopoulos@netmode.ntua.gr, dkalo@netmode.ntua.gr, maglaris@netmode.ntua.gr
Kostas Giotis
Affiliation:
Technology R&D, PCCW Global, Athens, Greece, e-mails: kyiotis@pccwglobal.com, lanagnostou@pccwglobal.com, ttsigkritis@pccwglobal.com, ikotinas@pccwglobal.com
Loukas Anagnostou
Affiliation:
Technology R&D, PCCW Global, Athens, Greece, e-mails: kyiotis@pccwglobal.com, lanagnostou@pccwglobal.com, ttsigkritis@pccwglobal.com, ikotinas@pccwglobal.com
Nikolaos Kostopoulos
Affiliation:
Network Management and Optimal Design Laboratory (NETMODE), National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece, e-mails: apavlidis@netmode.ntua.gr, mdimolianis@netmode.ntua.gr, nkostopoulos@netmode.ntua.gr, dkalo@netmode.ntua.gr, maglaris@netmode.ntua.gr
Theocharis Tsigkritis
Affiliation:
Technology R&D, PCCW Global, Athens, Greece, e-mails: kyiotis@pccwglobal.com, lanagnostou@pccwglobal.com, ttsigkritis@pccwglobal.com, ikotinas@pccwglobal.com
Ilias Kotinas
Affiliation:
Technology R&D, PCCW Global, Athens, Greece, e-mails: kyiotis@pccwglobal.com, lanagnostou@pccwglobal.com, ttsigkritis@pccwglobal.com, ikotinas@pccwglobal.com
Dimitrios Kalogeras
Affiliation:
Network Management and Optimal Design Laboratory (NETMODE), National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece, e-mails: apavlidis@netmode.ntua.gr, mdimolianis@netmode.ntua.gr, nkostopoulos@netmode.ntua.gr, dkalo@netmode.ntua.gr, maglaris@netmode.ntua.gr
Vasilis Maglaris
Affiliation:
Network Management and Optimal Design Laboratory (NETMODE), National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece, e-mails: apavlidis@netmode.ntua.gr, mdimolianis@netmode.ntua.gr, nkostopoulos@netmode.ntua.gr, dkalo@netmode.ntua.gr, maglaris@netmode.ntua.gr
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Abstract

Network providers either attempt to handle massive distributed denial-of-service attacks themselves or redirect traffic to third-party scrubbing centers. If providers adopt the first option, it is sensible to counter such attacks in their infancy via provider collaborations deploying distributed security mechanisms across multiple domains in an attack path. This motivated our work presented in this paper. Specifically, we investigate the establishment of trusted federations among adjacent and disjoint network domains, that is, autonomous systems (ASes) that collectively mitigate malicious traffic. Our approach is based on Distributed Ledger Technologies for signaling, coordination, and orchestration of a collaborative mitigation schema via appropriate blockchain-based smart contracts. Reputation scores are used to rank ASes based on their mitigation track record. The allocation of defense resources across multiple collaborators is modeled as a combinatorial optimization problem considering reputation scores and network flow weights. Malicious flows are mitigated using programmable network data paths within the eXpress Data Path (XDP) framework; this enables operators with enhanced packet processing throughput and advanced filtering flexibility. Our schema was implemented in a proof-of-concept prototype and tested under realistic network conditions.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Knowledge Engineering Review , Volume 35 , 2020 , e16
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2020

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