1,721,016 research outputs found
Analysis of application-layer filtering policies with application to HTTP
Full text linkApplication firewalls are increasingly used to inspect upper-layer protocols (as HTTP) that are the target or vehicle of several attacks and are not properly addressed by network firewalls. Like other security controls, application firewalls need to be carefully configured, as errors have a significant impact on service security and availability. However, currently no technique is available to analyze their configuration for correctness and consistency. This paper extends a previous model for analysis of packet filters to the policy anomaly analysis in application firewalls. Both rule-pair and multirule anomalies are detected, hence reducing the likelihood of conflicting and suboptimal configurations. The expressiveness of this model has been successfully tested against the features of Squid, a popular Web caching proxy offering various access control capabilities. The tool implementing this model has been tested on various scenarios and exhibits good performanc
A Formal Model of Security Capabilities towards Vendor-Agnostic Channel Protection
Full text linkThis paper presents the Capability Model - Channel Protection (CM-CP), a formal model to abstract the security capabilities of channel protection implementations. Using a Model-Driven Engineering approach, this model forms the basis of a generic policy translator, which converts secure communication policies, written in a vendor-agnostic language, into low-level configurations for specific implementations (known as Security Controls or Network Security Functions). As a result, network administrators can conceive these policies without acknowledging the underlying technologies, thus reducing the potential for errors arising from human intervention. The effectiveness of this work was validated with three state-of-the-art open-source Security Controls: XFRM, StrongSwan, and OpenVPN. As a result, the model's expressiveness and capacity to address concrete requirements for secure channel scenarios are verified
An expert system for automatic cyber risk assessment and its AI-based improvements
No full textEvaluating risks against IT Systems is a complex yet crucial process that requires significant resources and competencies. This paper proposes RiskMan, an expert system for the automatic assessment of cyber risks that computes a risk score using information gathering and vulnerability assessment tools, public databases, and leaks from the dark web without involving cybersecurity experts. Moreover, RiskMan uses AI-driven techniques to determine risks also when only partial information is available
Towards A Capability Model of Kubernetes Runtime Security Enforcement Mechanisms
No full textThe shift toward cloud-native and microservice-based architectures has made Kubernetes the de facto platform for managing containerized applications. However, its limited native support for security features has led to the proliferation of diverse enforcement mechanisms, such as Cilium, Calico, Tetragon, and KubeArmor. These tools vary in capabilities and configuration, complicating the establishment of an effective security posture. This work proposes a conceptual model that abstracts runtime security enforcement across these tools, enabling intent-based security policy design and automation. We present a model-driven approach to bridge high-level security requirements with low-level enforcement configurations. Our approach facilitates cloud portability, simplifies policy refinement, and enhances security consistency for heterogeneous environments. Validation across real-world microservice architectures and security policy catalogs demonstrates its practicality and effectiveness
A Formal Model of Security Controls’ Capabilities and Its Applications to Policy Refinement and Incident Management
Full text linkEnforcing security requirements in networked information systems relies on technical security controls to mitigate the risks posed by increasingly sophisticated threats. Configuring these controls is challenging; even nowadays, administrators must perform it without adequate tool support. Hence, this process is plagued by errors that result in insecure postures, security incidents, and a lack of promptness in addressing threats. This paper presents the Security Capability Model (SCM), a formal model that abstracts the features that security controls offer for enforcing security policies, which includes an Information Model that depicts the basic concepts related to rules (i.e., conditions, actions, events) and policies (i.e., conditions’ evaluation, resolution strategies, default actions), and a Data Model that covers the capabilities needed to describe different types of filtering and channel protection controls. Following state-of-the-art design patterns, the model enables the generation of abstract versions of the security controls’ languages and a model-driven approach for translating abstract policies into device-specific configuration settings. By validating its effectiveness in real-world scenarios, we demonstrate that SCM enables the automation of various and complex security tasks, including accurate and granular security control comparison, policy refinement, and incident response. Lastly, we present opportunities for extensions and integration with other frameworks and models
Dynamic Security Provisioning for Cloud-Native Networks: An Intent-Based Approach
No full textThis paper presents a methodology for automating network management and security enforcement in cloud-native environments through an intent-based approach. Intents allow for the specification of security requirements and precise enforcement details, such as security controls. Moreover, they enable defining changes to the networking environment and additional requirements to react to security-relevant events. A refinement process completes enforcement decisions when details are left unspecified, including the security controls to use and the network layout, and then generates the security controls' configurations. An automated framework deploys the desired chains in software networks orchestrated with Kubernetes and configures the involved security controls thanks to an Network Service Mesh-based operator. The approach has been validated in realistic use cases and proved scalable and helpful in simplifying administrator tasks and reducing errors
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