A Preventative Moving Target Defense Solution for Web Servers Using Iptables

Cimone Wright-Hamor; Steffanie Bisinger; Jeffrey Neel; Benjamin Blakely; Nathaniel Evans

doi:10.1007/978-981-19-6414-5_11

A Preventative Moving Target Defense Solution for Web Servers Using Iptables

Cimone Wright-Hamor, Steffanie Bisinger, Jeffrey Neel, Benjamin Blakely, Nathaniel Evans

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

Web servers are targets for cyberattacks because they contain valuable information, which could facilitate interactions with another system or damage an organization’s reputation. In the last two decades, Moving Target Defense (MTD) research has gained attention as a cyber resilient technique to mitigate cyber threats. However, most MTD work focuses on the network layer, and there is not much work to support the service layer. This research is an experimental evaluation of Dynamic Application Rotational Environment (DARE) and Dare IMproved (DIM). DIM is an enhanced version of DARE that leverages a host-based firewall to rotate between web servers located on the same host. The main contribution of this work is furthering the understanding of implementing a centralized host-based MTD architecture for web servers. Results show that DIM can maintain availability while thwarting attacks, whereas DARE limits the availability of the web server.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media - Cyber Science 2022
Editors	Cyril Onwubiko, Pierangelo Rosati, Aunshul Rege, Arnau Erola, Xavier Bellekens, Hanan Hindy, Martin Gilje Jaatun
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
Pages	191-205
Number of pages	15
ISBN (Print)	9789811964138
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6414-5_11
State	Published - 2023
Externally published	Yes
Event	International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness, and Social Media, Cyber Science 2022 - Cardiff, United Kingdom Duration: Jun 20 2022 → Jun 21 2022

Publication series

Name	Springer Proceedings in Complexity
ISSN (Print)	2213-8684
ISSN (Electronic)	2213-8692

Conference

Conference	International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness, and Social Media, Cyber Science 2022
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Cardiff
Period	06/20/22 → 06/21/22

Access to Document

10.1007/978-981-19-6414-5_11

Cite this

Wright-Hamor, C., Bisinger, S., Neel, J., Blakely, B., & Evans, N. (2023). A Preventative Moving Target Defense Solution for Web Servers Using Iptables. In C. Onwubiko, P. Rosati, A. Rege, A. Erola, X. Bellekens, H. Hindy, & M. G. Jaatun (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media - Cyber Science 2022 (pp. 191-205). (Springer Proceedings in Complexity). Springer Science and Business Media B.V.. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6414-5_11

Wright-Hamor, Cimone ; Bisinger, Steffanie ; Neel, Jeffrey et al. / A Preventative Moving Target Defense Solution for Web Servers Using Iptables. Proceedings of the International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media - Cyber Science 2022. editor / Cyril Onwubiko ; Pierangelo Rosati ; Aunshul Rege ; Arnau Erola ; Xavier Bellekens ; Hanan Hindy ; Martin Gilje Jaatun. Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2023. pp. 191-205 (Springer Proceedings in Complexity).

@inproceedings{bdca23784f1e43889e2a60552ac1d1eb,

title = "A Preventative Moving Target Defense Solution for Web Servers Using Iptables",

abstract = "Web servers are targets for cyberattacks because they contain valuable information, which could facilitate interactions with another system or damage an organization{\textquoteright}s reputation. In the last two decades, Moving Target Defense (MTD) research has gained attention as a cyber resilient technique to mitigate cyber threats. However, most MTD work focuses on the network layer, and there is not much work to support the service layer. This research is an experimental evaluation of Dynamic Application Rotational Environment (DARE) and Dare IMproved (DIM). DIM is an enhanced version of DARE that leverages a host-based firewall to rotate between web servers located on the same host. The main contribution of this work is furthering the understanding of implementing a centralized host-based MTD architecture for web servers. Results show that DIM can maintain availability while thwarting attacks, whereas DARE limits the availability of the web server.",

author = "Cimone Wright-Hamor and Steffanie Bisinger and Jeffrey Neel and Benjamin Blakely and Nathaniel Evans",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.; International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness, and Social Media, Cyber Science 2022 ; Conference date: 20-06-2022 Through 21-06-2022",

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doi = "10.1007/978-981-19-6414-5_11",

language = "English",

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editor = "Cyril Onwubiko and Pierangelo Rosati and Aunshul Rege and Arnau Erola and Xavier Bellekens and Hanan Hindy and Jaatun, {Martin Gilje}",

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}

Wright-Hamor, C, Bisinger, S, Neel, J, Blakely, B & Evans, N 2023, A Preventative Moving Target Defense Solution for Web Servers Using Iptables. in C Onwubiko, P Rosati, A Rege, A Erola, X Bellekens, H Hindy & MG Jaatun (eds), Proceedings of the International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media - Cyber Science 2022. Springer Proceedings in Complexity, Springer Science and Business Media B.V., pp. 191-205, International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness, and Social Media, Cyber Science 2022, Cardiff, United Kingdom, 06/20/22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6414-5_11

A Preventative Moving Target Defense Solution for Web Servers Using Iptables. / Wright-Hamor, Cimone; Bisinger, Steffanie; Neel, Jeffrey et al.
Proceedings of the International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media - Cyber Science 2022. ed. / Cyril Onwubiko; Pierangelo Rosati; Aunshul Rege; Arnau Erola; Xavier Bellekens; Hanan Hindy; Martin Gilje Jaatun. Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2023. p. 191-205 (Springer Proceedings in Complexity).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Wright-Hamor C, Bisinger S, Neel J, Blakely B, Evans N. A Preventative Moving Target Defense Solution for Web Servers Using Iptables. In Onwubiko C, Rosati P, Rege A, Erola A, Bellekens X, Hindy H, Jaatun MG, editors, Proceedings of the International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media - Cyber Science 2022. Springer Science and Business Media B.V. 2023. p. 191-205. (Springer Proceedings in Complexity). doi: 10.1007/978-981-19-6414-5_11