An SDN-based Moving Target Defense as a Countermeasure to Prevent Network Scans

Abstract

This paper proposes a Software-Defined Network (SDN)-based Moving Target Defense (MTD) to protect the network from potential scans in a compromised network. As a unique feature, contrary to traditional MTDs, the proposed MTD can work alongside other tools and countermeasures already deployed in the network (e.g., Intrusion Protection and Detection Systems) without affecting its behavior. Through extensive evaluation, we showed the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism compared to existing solutions in preventing scans of different rates without affecting the network and controller performance.