How to Implement Network Security Engineering in NS2

To implement Network Security Engineering in ns2 has needs to include designing, developing, and validating security measures in network environments to secure against numerous threats like an unauthorized access, data breaches, and network attacks. In NS2, we can replicate and validate on numerous security engineering approaches like firewalls, encryption, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and attack simulation. This permits to model security mechanisms and monitor how they impacts network performance.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to simulating Network Security Engineering in NS2:

Step-by-Step Implementation:

  1. Set up NS2

Make sure that NS2 is installed on the system. If not, we can install it using:

sudo apt-get install ns2

  1. Define the Network Topology

We will describe a network topology with numerous nodes that denotes users, servers, security components such as firewalls and IDS, and attackers. This forms the basis of the security simulation, in which security mechanisms will observe and control network traffic.

set ns [new Simulator]

set tracefile [open network_security_engineering.tr w]

$ns trace-all $tracefile

# Create network nodes (user, attacker, server, firewall, and IDS)

set user [$ns node]          ;# User node

set attacker [$ns node]       ;# Attacker node

set server [$ns node]         ;# Server node

set firewall [$ns node]       ;# Firewall node

set ids_node [$ns node]       ;# IDS node

# Create links between the nodes

$ns duplex-link $user $firewall 1Mb 10ms DropTail  ;# User 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 Traffic

Initially, we mimic normal traffic flow from the user to the server via the firewall and IDS. This denotes legitimate network traffic.

# Set up UDP agents for legitimate traffic (user to server)

set udp_user [new Agent/UDP]

set udp_server [new Agent/Null]

$ns attach-agent $user $udp_user

$ns attach-agent $server $udp_server

$ns connect $udp_user $udp_server

# Create a traffic generator to simulate normal traffic

set cbr_user [new Application/Traffic/CBR]

$cbr_user set packetSize_ 512

$cbr_user set rate_ 1Mb

$cbr_user attach-agent $udp_user

# Start normal traffic at 1.0 seconds

$ns at 1.0 “$cbr_user start”

  1. Simulate Malicious Traffic

Mimic an attacker endeavouring to send malicious traffic. The firewall and IDS will be configured to identify and block this traffic.

# 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 Packet Filtering

The firewall will monitor traffic among the user and server and block malicious traffic based on conditions like packet size, source IP, or port number.

# Function to simulate firewall filtering based on packet size

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 checking 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 Intrusion Detection System (IDS)

IDS observers the traffic for signs of intrusions, such as known attack patterns, abnormal traffic volumes, or suspicious IP addresses.

# 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 after the firewall

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

  1. Simulate Traffic Encryption

To secure interaction among the user and server, we mimic traffic encryption at the user node and decryption at the server.

(A) Encrypt Traffic at the User

To mimic traffic encryption before sending the message to the server.

# Function to simulate traffic encryption

proc encrypt_traffic {message encryption_key} {

puts “Encrypting message: ‘$message’ with key: $encryption_key”

return “encrypted_$message”

}

# Simulate encrypting a message

set encryption_key “secure_key_123”

set message “Hello, server!”

$ns at 1.0 “set encrypted_message [encrypt_traffic $message $encryption_key]”

(B) Decrypt Traffic at the Server

The server will decode the traffic using the suitable key to restore the original message.

# Function to simulate traffic decryption

proc decrypt_traffic {encrypted_message decryption_key} {

puts “Decrypting message: ‘$encrypted_message’ with key: $decryption_key”

return “decrypted_message”

}

# Simulate decrypting the message at the server

$ns at 2.0 “set decrypted_message [decrypt_traffic $encrypted_message $encryption_key]”

  1. Simulate Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack

In addition to malicious traffic, we can mimic a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack by sending a large volume of traffic to the server, that endeavouring to overwhelm it.

# Set up a traffic generator to simulate a DoS attack

set dos_attacker [new Application/Traffic/CBR]

$dos_attacker set packetSize_ 512

$dos_attacker set rate_ 10Mb  ;# High traffic rate to simulate DoS

$dos_attacker attach-agent $udp_attacker

# Start DoS attack at 3.5 seconds

$ns at 3.5 “$dos_attacker start”

  1. Log Security Events

Log the significant events like traffic encryption, decryption, firewall actions, IDS detections, and DoS attacks.

# Function to log security-related events

proc log_security_event {time event description} {

puts “$time: $event – $description”

}

# Log firewall, IDS, and DoS attack events

$ns at 1.5 “log_security_event 1.5 ‘Firewall’ ‘Traffic allowed by firewall'”

$ns at 2.5 “log_security_event 2.5 ‘Firewall’ ‘Malicious traffic blocked by firewall'”

$ns at 3.0 “log_security_event 3.0 ‘IDS’ ‘Intrusion detected by IDS'”

$ns at 3.5 “log_security_event 3.5 ‘DoS Attack’ ‘DoS attack started'”

  1. Run the Simulation

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

ns your_script.tcl

  1. Analyse the Results

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

  • Normal traffic passed via the firewall and reached the server.
  • Malicious traffic was blocked by the firewall and identified by the IDS.
  • Traffic was successfully encoded at the user node and decoded at the server.
  • The DoS attack created excessive traffic that mimics a denial-of-service attempt.

We can also use NAM (Network Animator) to envision the security mechanisms in action and see how the network responds to diverse threats.

  1. Extend the Simulation

We can expand this simulation by:

  • Adding more advanced security features: To mimic more sophisticated detection systems, like machine learning-based IDS, or integrate authentication mechanisms.
  • Simulating more attack types: Add more attack scenarios such as Man-in-the-Middle (MITM), Phishing, or Brute Force attacks.
  • Measuring performance: Monitor the performance of the network in diverse security measures and attacks, like packet loss, throughput, and delay.
  • Simulating different encryption protocols: Use diverse encryption and decryption approaches such as RSA, AES to see their effects on network performance.

We demonstrate how the Network Security Engineering will simulate the network scenario and how to execute and analyse the outcomes using the ns2. Additional specific details about how the Network Security Engineering will perform in other simulation scenarios. Stay in touch with ns2project.com To implement the Network Security Engineering in NS2 you can share all your research details to us we offer  best research ideas and share novel topics.