A Framework for Moving Target Defence with Data Encryption Standard

Abstract

Moving Target Defence (MTD) became an important research area in the wake of increased cyber security threats. As the attackers are gaining knowledge on existing methods, it is essential to have more dynamic approach that can defeat plans of attackers. As improving systems with higher level of security is a never ending process, MTD has got significance in military and other applications where critical digital infrastructure needs to be protected from adversaries. When attack surface is dynamically evolving with mutation strategy, it can lead to realization of MTD. As MTD increases complexity and uses dynamic encryption mechanism, the attack surface evolves from time to time confusing attacker. Traditional approaches like AES and DES alone will have their limitations. However, when they are used along with the concept of MTD strategies, it is possible to provide highly secure environment. In this paper, we proposed a framework with an underlying algorithm which ensures MTD with dynamically evolving attack surface and dynamic encryption standards based on DES. The experimental results revealed that the proposed scheme is effective and shows improved performance over its predecessor.