Toward Proactive, Adaptive Defense: A Survey on Moving Target Defense

Abstract

Reactive defense mechanisms, such as intrusion detection systems, have made significant efforts to secure a system or network for the last several decades. However, the nature of reactive security mechanisms has limitations because potential attackers cannot be prevented in advance. We are facing a reality with the proliferation of persistent, advanced, intelligent attacks while defenders are often way behind attackers in taking appropriate actions to thwart potential attackers. The concept of moving target defense (MTD) has emerged as a proactive defense mechanism aiming to prevent attacks. In this work, we conducted a comprehensive, in-depth survey to discuss the following aspects of MTD: key roles, design principles, classifications, common attacks, key methodologies, important algorithms, metrics, evaluation methods, and application domains. We discuss the pros and cons of all aspects of MTD surveyed in this work. Lastly, we highlight insights and lessons learned from this study and suggest future work directions. The aim of this paper is to provide the overall trends of MTD research in terms of critical aspects of defense systems for researchers who seek for developing proactive, adaptive MTD mechanisms.

IANVS: A Moving Target Defense Framework for a Resilient Internet of Things

“…The literature identifies three types of decision processes: Time, Event, and Hybrid-based B. Related Work: MTD for IoT 1) MTD Strategies for IoT: Even if more than 80 distinct MTD strategies exists [6]- [9], MTD strategies for the IoT are limited. Recent MTD surveys [6], [9] identify only 4 IoT-specific MTD strategies.…”

“…Related Work: MTD for IoT 1) MTD Strategies for IoT: Even if more than 80 distinct MTD strategies exists [6]- [9], MTD strategies for the IoT are limited. Recent MTD surveys [6], [9] identify only 4 IoT-specific MTD strategies. Casola et al [10] proposes diversification of the network security protocols (Network) and firmware (Platform).…”

A Novel Model of Mimic Defense Based on Minimal L-Order Error Probability

“…In order to reverse the asymmetry and prevent unknown attacks, moving target defense (MTD), a representative proactive defense mechanism, has emerged with high hopes [12][13]. MTD continuously and randomly changes network elements to achieve active defense [14].…”

“…MTD continuously and randomly changes network elements to achieve active defense [14]. By increasing the unpredictability of the system, MTD greatly increases the cost of the attacker while ensuring the normal operation of the system [15]. Based on operation, MTD can be roughly divided into four types [16]: shuffling [17][18], diversity [19][20], redundancy [21][22][23] and hybrid [24][25].…”

SOCMTD: Selecting Optimal Countermeasure for Moving Target Defense Using Dynamic Game

“…At the same time, the network security strategy has undergone an evolution from passive defense to active defense, and the emerging moving target defense (MTD) technology [7] has become a new method to balance the competitive environment of network security. It protects the network space by introducing dynamics, randomness and heterogeneity.…”