Toward secure software-defined networks

Abstract

This dissertation diagnoses various security problems of SDN (Software-Defined Networking) in an empirical manner. The area of SDN security can be broke down into two major subareas: (i) Security with SDN: providing network security services with SDN and (ii) Security of SDN: the security of various SDN components. This dissertation primarily focuses on systematically and empirically identifying the challenges and problems that arise in such areas of SDN security. In order to address one of the most critical problems that have been identified in this dissertation, we propose an SDN application security policy enforcement mechanism for carrier-grade SDN controllers that are vulnerable to various attacks launched by untrusted third-party SDN applications.