Attack graphs (AGs) are graphical tools to analyze the security of computer networks. By connecting the exploitation of individual vulnerabilities, AGs expose possible multi-step attacks against target networks, allowing system administrators to take preventive measures to enhance their network’s security. As powerful analytical tools, however, AGs are both time- and memory-consuming to be generated. As the numbers of network assets, interconnections between devices, as well as vulnerabilities increase, the size and volume of the resulting AGs grow at a much higher rate, leading to the well-known state-space explosion. In this paper, we propose the use of high performance computing (HPC) clusters to implement AG generators. We evaluate the performance through experiments and provide insights into how cluster environments can help resolve the issues of slow speed and high memory demands in AG generation in a balanced way.

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

Attack Graph Generation on HPC Clusters

  • Ming Li,
  • John Hale

摘要

Attack graphs (AGs) are graphical tools to analyze the security of computer networks. By connecting the exploitation of individual vulnerabilities, AGs expose possible multi-step attacks against target networks, allowing system administrators to take preventive measures to enhance their network’s security. As powerful analytical tools, however, AGs are both time- and memory-consuming to be generated. As the numbers of network assets, interconnections between devices, as well as vulnerabilities increase, the size and volume of the resulting AGs grow at a much higher rate, leading to the well-known state-space explosion. In this paper, we propose the use of high performance computing (HPC) clusters to implement AG generators. We evaluate the performance through experiments and provide insights into how cluster environments can help resolve the issues of slow speed and high memory demands in AG generation in a balanced way.