How to Implement Network Security Awareness in NS2

To implement Network Security Awareness in NS2 has needs to mimic and assess the security measures that alert users and network administrators to potential threats, susceptibilities, and abnormal network activities. The concentration of security awareness is on proactive detection, monitoring, and reporting of threats within the network. In NS2, we can mimic security mechanisms such as firewalls, IDS, alerting systems, and logs to generate a network environment that raises awareness of security events.

Here’s how to implement Network Security Awareness in NS2:

Step-by-Step Implementation:

  1. Set up NS2

Make sure that NS2 is installed on system. We can install it using the following command if needed:

sudo apt-get install ns2

  1. Define the Network Topology

We will generate a network topology with user nodes, an attacker node, security nodes (firewall, IDS), and a server. The security awareness system will observe network traffic and creates alerts according to the identified threats.

set ns [new Simulator]

set tracefile [open network_security_awareness.tr w]

$ns trace-all $tracefile

# Create nodes

set user1 [$ns node]       ;# User 1

set user2 [$ns node]       ;# User 2

set attacker [$ns node]    ;# Attacker node

set firewall [$ns node]    ;# Firewall node

set ids_node [$ns node]    ;# IDS node

set server [$ns node]      ;# Server node

# Create links between nodes

$ns duplex-link $user1 $firewall 1Mb 10ms DropTail  ;# User1 to firewall

$ns duplex-link $user2 $firewall 1Mb 10ms DropTail  ;# User2 to firewall

$ns duplex-link $attacker $firewall 1Mb 10ms DropTail  ;# Attacker to firewall

$ns duplex-link $firewall $ids_node 1Mb 10ms DropTail  ;# Firewall to IDS

$ns duplex-link $ids_node $server 1Mb 10ms DropTail  ;# IDS to server

  1. Simulate Normal and Malicious Traffic

We will replicate normal traffic from users to the server and malicious traffic from an attacker. The security elements will monitor both types of traffic and create alerts according to abnormal activities.

(A) Simulate Normal Traffic

The legitimate users send normal traffic to the server.

# Set up UDP agents for normal traffic (user1 to server)

set udp_user1 [new Agent/UDP]

set udp_server [new Agent/Null]

$ns attach-agent $user1 $udp_user1

$ns attach-agent $server $udp_server

$ns connect $udp_user1 $udp_server

# Create a traffic generator to simulate normal traffic

set cbr_user1 [new Application/Traffic/CBR]

$cbr_user1 set packetSize_ 512

$cbr_user1 set rate_ 1Mb

$cbr_user1 attach-agent $udp_user1

# Start normal traffic at 1.0 seconds

$ns at 1.0 “$cbr_user1 start”

(B) Simulate Malicious Traffic

The attacker sends malicious traffic to the server that will trigger alerts from the security systems (firewall, IDS).

# Set up UDP agents for malicious traffic (attacker to server)

set udp_attacker [new Agent/UDP]

set udp_malicious [new Agent/Null]

$ns attach-agent $attacker $udp_attacker

$ns attach-agent $server $udp_malicious

$ns connect $udp_attacker $udp_malicious

# Create a traffic generator to simulate malicious traffic

set cbr_attacker [new Application/Traffic/CBR]

$cbr_attacker set packetSize_ 1024  ;# Simulate larger malicious traffic

$cbr_attacker set rate_ 512Kb

$cbr_attacker attach-agent $udp_attacker

# Start malicious traffic at 2.0 seconds

$ns at 2.0 “$cbr_attacker start”

  1. Implement a Firewall for Traffic Filtering

The firewall observes traffic and blocks packets according to certain rules such as abnormal packet size or suspicious IP addresses.

# Function to simulate firewall filtering

proc firewall_filter {packet_size threshold} {

if { $packet_size > $threshold } {

puts “Firewall: Blocking traffic with packet size $packet_size”

return 1  ;# Traffic blocked

} else {

puts “Firewall: Allowing traffic with packet size $packet_size”

return 0  ;# Traffic allowed

}

}

# Set a packet size threshold for the firewall (e.g., 512 bytes)

set threshold 512

# Simulate firewall inspecting traffic

$ns at 1.5 “firewall_filter 512 $threshold”   ;# Normal traffic (allowed)

$ns at 2.5 “firewall_filter 1024 $threshold”  ;# Malicious traffic (blocked)

  1. Implement an IDS to Detect Intrusions

The IDS examines traffic for unusual patterns such as large packet sizes, high traffic rates and creates alerts when suspicious behaviour is identified.

# Function to simulate IDS detection based on traffic characteristics

proc ids_detect {packet_size threshold} {

if { $packet_size > $threshold } {

puts “IDS: Intrusion detected! Packet size $packet_size exceeds threshold”

return 1  ;# Intrusion detected

} else {

puts “IDS: Normal traffic”

return 0  ;# No intrusion

}

}

# Simulate IDS inspecting traffic at the IDS node

$ns at 3.0 “ids_detect 1024 $threshold”  ;# Malicious traffic (detected by IDS)

  1. Implement Security Awareness Alerts

Create alerts when the firewall or IDS identifies suspicious activities. This will upsurges security awareness by identifying the network administrator or users of potential threats.

# Function to raise a security awareness alert

proc raise_alert {component threat_level description} {

puts “$component: Security Alert! Threat level: $threat_level – $description”

}

# Raise alerts when the firewall blocks traffic

$ns at 2.6 “raise_alert ‘Firewall’ ‘High’ ‘Suspicious traffic blocked with packet size exceeding 1024 bytes'”

# Raise alerts when the IDS detects an intrusion

$ns at 3.1 “raise_alert ‘IDS’ ‘Critical’ ‘Intrusion detected by IDS due to abnormal traffic patterns'”

  1. Log Security Events

Log the key security events, like when the firewall blocks traffic, the IDS identifies an intrusion, and alerts are raised.

# Function to log security-related events

proc log_security_event {time event description} {

puts “$time: $event – $description”

}

# Log firewall, IDS, and alert events

$ns at 1.5 “log_security_event 1.5 ‘Firewall’ ‘Allowed normal traffic'”

$ns at 2.5 “log_security_event 2.5 ‘Firewall’ ‘Blocked suspicious traffic'”

$ns at 3.0 “log_security_event 3.0 ‘IDS’ ‘Detected intrusion'”

$ns at 2.6 “log_security_event 2.6 ‘Alert’ ‘Firewall raised a security alert'”

$ns at 3.1 “log_security_event 3.1 ‘Alert’ ‘IDS raised a critical security alert'”

  1. Run the Simulation

Once the script is ready, execute the simulation using NS2:

ns your_script.tcl

  1. Analyze the Results

After executing the simulation, validate the trace file (network_security_awareness.tr) and the console output to verify:

  • Legitimate traffic was permits via the firewall.
  • Malicious traffic was blocked by the firewall and identified by the IDS.
  • Alerts were raised according to the suspicious activities detected by the firewall and IDS.

We can also use NAM (Network Animator) to envision the traffic flow and security mechanisms in action.

  1. Extend the Simulation

We can expand this simulation by:

  • Simulating more sophisticated attacks: Execute attacks such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), phishing, or man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks to measure security awareness.
  • Incorporating more detection mechanisms: Use machine learning-based or signature-based detection systems to enhance the precision of intrusion detection.
  • Adding user notifications: To mimic the process of identifying users about identified threats, prompting them to take corrective actions such as changing passwords.
  • Analysing network performance: evaluate the effects of security mechanisms on network performance that has throughput, delay, and packet loss in diverse threat levels.

In the presented manual, we demonstrate the comprehensive procedures to implement and execute the Network Security Awareness that has implementation procedures explanation and sample snippets were given to execute in ns2 tool. Additional specific details regarding the Network Security Awareness will be provided. To apply Network Security Awareness in NS2, you can send us your research details. We provide excellent research ideas.