Moving target defense mtd has emerged as one of the gamechanging themes to alter the asymmetric situation between attacks and defenses in cybersecurity. A cyber moving target technique refers to any technique that attempts to defend a system and increase the complexity of cyber attacks by making the system less homogeneous, less static, and less deterministic 1. Moving target defense mtd is a proactive security solution, which can be utilized by cloud computing in order to thwart cyber attacks. Thus, the diversity defense succeeds when all the attackers exploits are in the target class of attack input a and the attacker has not learned enough information about k to construct the exploit a k. Nov 11, 2019 the idea of moving target defense mtd is to impose the same asymmetric disadvantage on attackers by making systems dynamic and therefore harder to explore and predict. We seewhat they call moving target defense, before a moving target, trying to envision the idea of somebody running across a fieldis being implemented by a variety of companies out there, but typically they are point solutions. Nov 11, 2016 moving target defense mtd has emerged as one of the gamechanging themes to alter the asymmetric situation between attacks and defenses in cybersecurity. Owing to the ubiquity of web applications in modern computing, the server software that delivers applications is an attractive attack vector for wouldbe malicious actors in cyberspace.
Fulp wakeforest u n i v e r s i t y department of computer science national science foundation secure and trustworthy cyberspace award. Fulp wakeforest u n i v e r s i t y department of computer science national science foundation secure and trustworthy cyberspace award 1252551 july,2014 bastilledayeve. Moving target defense mtd has provided a dynamic and proactive network defense to reduce or move the attack surface that is available for exploitation. In the first volume of mtd, we presented mtd approaches based on software transformations, and mtd approaches based on. Pdf toward a moving target defense for web applications. Authentication with proofofwork protection the authentication server with assured accessibility is essential to our moving target defense. Toward a moving target defense for web applications. Moving target techniques change the static nature of computer systems to increase. Pdf as an active defense technique to change asymmetry in cyberattack defense confrontation, moving target defense research has become. Moving target defense cyber operations, analysis, and. In the first volume of mtd, we presented mtd approaches based on software transformations, and mtd approaches based on network and software stack configurations. When more than one moving target defense techniques are effective to limit opportunities of an attack, it is required to compare these techniques and select the best defense choice.
Moving target defense blog cybersecurity trends, exploring moving target defense and putting endpoint threat prevention first. However, traditional network is difficult to realize dynamic and active security defense effectively and comprehensively. As an active defense technique to change asymmetry in cyberattackdefense confrontation, moving target defense research has become one of the hot spots. This paper addresses some of the requirements for effective mt defenses based on experimental and theoretical.
We implement a prototype system and evaluate it against. Moving target defense cyber operations, analysis, and research. In this paper, we present a survey on mtd technologies to scientifically and systematically. Now the attacker must also operate under uncertainty and unpredictability, where. This paper addresses some of the requirements for effective mt defenses based on experimental and theoretical notions associated with deception. Evolutionary based moving target cyber defense davidj. Consider the lifetime of a particular service, shown in figure 1. Our model can incorporate various information structures. A stackelberg game and markov modeling of moving target defense xiaotao feng1, zizhan zheng2, prasant mohapatra3, and derya cansever4 1 department of electrical and computer engineering, university of california, davis, usa 2 department of computer science, tulane university, new orleans, usa 3 department of computer science, university of california, davis, usa. The techniques of moving target defense depends on which static configurations like addresses, names, software stacks, networks are changed over time. Moving target defense mtd techniques for the network seek to move different parts of the network infrastructure that an attacker may leverage to launch an attack. A survey article pdf available in security and communication networks 20182.
A zero day is a vulnerability that is being actively exploited for some time before day one of the publics knowledge of the vulnerability, which makes it impossible for security. Investigating the application of moving target defenses to. Stolfo abstract if we wish to break the continual cycle of patching and replacing our core monoculture systems to defend against attacker evasion tactics, we must redesign the way systems are deployed so that the attacker can no longer glean the. In this section, i will be discussing the majority of them. Moving target defense has become a buzzword in cybersecurity circles because of its promise to function as a proactive solution for zero day vulnerabilities. Proceedings of the eighth annual cyber security and information intelligence research workshop, 20. Furthermore, many of the mtd mechanisms leverage some of the traditional defense methods but add dynamics to it to make it harder for an attacker to fool the overall defense. A stackelberg game and markov modeling of moving target defense. Optimal strategy selection for moving target defense. This survey provides an overview of different cyber moving target techniques, their threat models, and their technical details. Missionoriented moving target defense based on cryptographically strong network dynamics. This enhances defense agility against massive, sophisticated attacks while reducing its dependence on the volume of proxy resources. Moving target defense mtd concept has been a feasible idea for reducing the possibility of attack happening through alternation attack surfaces or. International workshop on the engineering of mobileenabled systems mobs.
When more than one moving target defense techniques are e ective to limit opportunities of an attack, it is required to compare these techniques and select the best defense choice. Based on it, the concept of moving target defense is analyzed. A new design for evaluating moving target defense system ieee. Pdf on dec 1, 2018, tan jinglei and others published dpda. Simulationbased approaches to studying effectiveness of moving. The moving target defense techniques can be broadly classified into the types as shown in the table 1. However, comprehensive analyses and research on mtd are still absent. Claire le goues, anh nguyentuong, hao chen, jack w. While certainly not perfect, it is a new, further step towards a movingtarget, defenseindepth architecture and can greatly complement existing defense solutions. The rst step is the initial deployment of the system in its operational setting. Simulationbased approaches to studying effectiveness of. Moving target defense creating asymmetric uncertainty. Creating asymmetric uncertainty for cyber threats is designed for advanced level students and researchers focused on computer science, and as a secondary text book or reference. Mar 20, 2017 moving target defense plays nice with legacy paradigms and strategies.
Through continuous recon guration, mtd counters the attackers ability to gather intelligence and can delay an attack at will. A moving target defense system based on detection and prediction. Professionals working in this field will also find this book valuable. It did not work well for the allies in 1940 either. There is some information that, when held by the attacker, gives them a competitive advantage.
Moving target defense techniques have been proposed to increase uncertainty and apparent complexity for attackers. Pdf comparing different moving target defense techniques. Application of game theory and adversarial modeling includes contributions from world experts in the cyber security field. We propose nomad, a novel, nonintrusive movingtarget defense system against web bots. Moving target defense using live migration of docker. Moving target defense mtd is todays most impactful security innovation opportunity. At a high level, a moving target defense dynamically con. Moving target defense advanced endpoint prevention. The defender has the ability to take that information away from the attacker at least temporarily. It will be important for the early products in the market to continue to solidify, while early adopters prioritize moving target defense in their security innovation budgets. Most of the current mtd technologies are designed to protect systems against a very specific set of attack vectors, such.
Moving target defense recent trends cryptomove blog. A moving target defense approach for protecting resourceconstrained distributed devices. The mtd system reasons over a set of abstract models that capture the networks con. We believe pladd incorporates these essential mtd features and may allow us to study the. We propose a stackelberg game model for moving target defense mtd where the defender periodically switches the state of a security sensitive resource to make it di cult for the attacker to identify the real con gurations of the resource.
Once the system is executing, an mtd system will choose an adaptation to make to its con guration. A survey of moving target defenses for network security. Towards a theory of moving target defense department of. Pdf a moving target defense approach for protecting. A stackelberg game and markov modeling of moving target. A survey of moving target defenses for network security arxiv. Moving target defense creating asymmetric uncertainty for. However there has been little work to study how much proactively changing a networks configuration can increase the difficulty for attackers and thus improve the resilience of the system under attack. As with any strategy, a defender considering an mtd. Moving target strategies are a completely new paradigm for approaching security.
Design, implementation and experiments for moving target defense. A quantitative framework for moving target defense. Numerous related works involving several facets of mtd have been published. Machine learning cant protect you from fileless attacks.
Moving target defense, performance, markov chains 1 introduction moving target defense mtd has the potential of turning the typical asymmetry of the security landscape in favor of the defender, 18. The next 12 months should be exciting for mtd as well. Cybersecurity trends, exploring moving target defense and putting endpoint threat prevention first the five hidden risks of a remote workforce posted by andrew homer on may 21, 2020. In order to gain better understanding of moving target defense, background knowledge and inspiration are expounded at first. Moving target defense increases the value of existing tools, because it naturally lends itself to orchestration via apis. Many mtd techniques have been proposed, but there is still a lack of systematic evaluation methods for assessing the effectiveness of the proposed mtd techniques, especially when multiple mtd techniques are to be used in combinations. In this paper, we use openflow to develop a mtd architecture that transparently mutates ip addresses with high unpredictability and rate, while maintaining con. Movingtarget defense has been hypothesized as a potential game changer in. The morphisec unified threat prevention platforms stops zero days, exploits, fileless malware, and other evasive threats with moving target defense.
This survey provides an overview of di erent cyber moving target techniques, their threat models, and their technical details. Moving target defense and dns fast flux blog resources. This survey provides an overview of di erent cyber movingtarget techniques, their threat models, and their technical details. Pdf a framework for moving target defense quantification. A framework for moving target defense quantification warren connell, massimiliano albaneseb, and sridhar venkatesan george mason university, fairfax. Softwaredefined networking sdn points out a brandnew path for building dynamic and proactive defense system. Securing static nodes in mobileenabled systems using a networklayer moving target defense groat, s. The moving target defense paradigm promises to break the asymmetry between the attacker and the defender. Moving target defense mtd, generally speaking, comprises a class of strategies where a defender randomizes its con guration to make disruption more challenging. Comparing different moving target defense techniques.
This static approach is a legacy of information technology systems designed for simplicity in a time when malicious exploitation of system vulnerabilities was not a concern. A cyber moving target technique refers to any technique that attempts to defend a system and increase the complexity of cyber attacks by making the system less homogeneous, static, or deterministic 1. The idea of movingtarget defense mtd is to impose the same asymmetric disadvantage on attackers by making systems dynamic and therefore harder to explore and predict. Nov 29, 2017 moving target defense constantly shifts the environment surrounding sensitive data, making it harder for wouldbe attackers to identify vulnerabilities. As an active defense technique to change asymmetry in cyberattack defense confrontation, moving target defense research has become one of the hot spots. In this paper, we present a survey on mtd technologies to scientifically and. Moving target defenses with and without cover deception. With a constantly changing system and its everadapting attack surface, attackers will have to deal with significant uncertainty just like defenders do today. Secondly, literature analysis method is adopted to. Moving target defense for example, addresses, names, software stacks, networks and various configuration parameters remain more or less the same over long periods of time. Movingtarget defense has been hypothesized as a potential game changer in cyber defense, in cluding that for computer networks. Posted by michael gorelik on may, 2020 the rise of fileless attacks in the past 10 years has stymied even the best antivirus software. A moving target defense approach does not require putting detection, prevention, and remediation tools aside. Dynamic application rotation environment dare mtd uses the two most common and freely.
A cyber movingtarget technique refers to any technique that attempts to defend a system and increase the complexity of cyber attacks by making the system less homogeneous, static, or deterministic 1. Moving target defenses with and without cover deception moving target mt defenses have been identified as a key research area by the nitrd. Abstract movingtarget defense has been hypothesized as a potential game changer in cyber defense, including that for computer networks. Pdf as an active defense technique to change asymmetry in cyberattackdefense confrontation, moving target defense research has become. The idea behind moving target defense mtd is to reduce the information asymmetry between the attacker and defender, ultimately rendering the reconnaissance information misleading or useless. The idea of moving target defense mtd is to impose the same asymmetric disadvantage on attackers by making systems dynamic and therefore harder to explore and predict. The static nature of cyber systems gives attackers the ad vantage of time.