Identification of Threats and Security Risk Assessments for Recursive Internet Architecture

Security, Risk management, Network architecture, Computer architecture, Resilience, ISO Standards, Recursive Internet Architecture

There are several types of attacks on communication networks such as disrupting or blocking communication, intercepting, injecting fabricated packets, accessing and modifying the information. Here, for the first time the SecRAM, a recent security risk assessment methodology, is proposed to be systematically applied in a different context, i.e., to the network systems, specifically to an emerging network architecture called recursive internetwork architecture (RINA). The security risk assessment is performed to: identify run-time threats; assess the impact and likelihood of occurrence of attacks relevant to the threats; evaluate the RINA design principles; and validate the built-in security enablers and the mitigation actions that are devised to combat such attacks. Resulting from this assessment, specific measures are proposed to further improve cyber resiliency of the RINA, in securing its layers and components. The enhancement prevails through the utilization of multilayered security controls or the increase in their strength. We show how programmable security controls can assist in tackling network attacks. For proof of concept, we demonstrate formal analysis of some of the security properties of RINA using ProVerif tool and RINA Simulator. We apply the tool to create a formal model of a network and mitigate the selected attacks. The results of this analysis are provided.