Virtual network security: threats, countermeasures, and challenges

Abstract

Network virtualization has become increasingly prominent in recent years. It enables the creation of network infrastructures that are specifically tailored to the needs of distinct network applications and supports the instantiation of favorable environments for the development and evaluation of new architectures and protocols. Despite the wide applicability of network virtualization, the shared use of routing devices and communication channels leads to a series of security-related concerns. It is necessary to provide protection to virtual network infrastructures in order to enable their use in real, large scale environments. In this paper, we present an overview of the state of the art concerning virtual network security. We discuss the main challenges related to this kind of environment, some of the major threats, as well as solutions proposed in the literature that aim to deal with different security aspects.

A toolset for efficient privacy-oriented virtual network embedding and its instantiation on SDN/OpenFlow-based substrates

“…Secondly, the shared use of rout-14 ing devices and communication channels by a number of differ-15 ent entities introduces security-related concerns. Without adequate 16 protection, users from a virtual network might be able to gain 17 unauthorized access to data being transmitted through other vir- 18 tual networks, violating the privacy of the entities that own those 19 networks [2] . 20 The recent discovery of pervasive electronic surveillance has 21 highlighted privacy concerns in network infrastructures.…”

“…1 Network virtualization provides a higher level of dynamicity for 2 Infrastructure Providers (InPs), by simplifying the process of net-3 work instantiation and removal. This enables InPs to promptly cre- 4 ate networks that are specifically tailored to the needs of distinct 5 customers, as well as to improve physical resource utilization.…”

Conflict-free rerouting scheme through flow splitting for virtual networks using switches

“…To fend off ossification, studies have proposed rethinking the architecture of the actual Internet [1]. However, network virtualization is the most promising approach to addressing current limitations of the Internet and supporting new requirements [2][3][4][5]. Its principle is to implement multiple virtual routers on each physical machine and to interconnect them through substrate network architecture.…”

An Efficient Secure Scheme Based on Hierarchical Topology in the Smart Home Environment

“…Smart home service is an ESN in which integrates IoT emerging technologies such as autonomous driving, cyber physical system and mobile nodes, and existing sensor networks has been in the limelight [7]. Therefore, many of the companies and research institutions have been developing diverse technologies so as to provide better services [8,9]. However, a smart home combined with a sensor network still faces problems in terms of low power and security.…”