EAGER: Toward Automated Integration of Moving Target Defense Techniques

移动目标防御（MTD）是一种新的网络安全范式，用于主动阻止和干扰攻击，以对抗“不对称”。网络战中的现象。最近提出了许多移动目标技术，通过随机系统来逆转这种不对称性。属性（例如，配置）和向攻击者展示非确定性。然而，由于各种MTD机制之间潜在的相互依赖性，MTD技术的特别组合可能对系统的安全性、性能和操作完整性造成严重的不利影响。该项目正在研究新的和变革性的方法，以制定一个说明性框架，从任意的MTD机制列表中实例化新的MTD策略，这些策略是按结构正确的。所提出的框架能够垂直或水平地集成MTD机制，同时平衡综合集成MTD策略的收益和成本。作为一个案例研究，我们集成了两类主要的MTD机制，即主机配置突变和网络配置突变，以创建一个内聚的、更强大的复合MTD机制。为此，本研究的结果通过促进对移动目标防御综合和评估的自动推理的理解，为移动目标防御科学提供了新的理论基础和变革性方法。由于这种前瞻性的EAGER提议显示出高风险，它也需要高价值，即始终领先于攻击者许多步骤。通过对MTD推理框架的开发，开发出MTD课程模块。软件工件允许在这个领域进行进一步的实验和进展。

Moving Target defense (MTD) is a new Cybersecurity paradigm for deterring and disturbing attacks proactively in order to counter the ?asymmetry? phenomena in cyber warfare. A number of moving target techniques have been recently proposed to inverse this asymmetry by randomizing systems? attributes (e.g., configuration) and exhibiting non-determinism to attackers. However, due to potential inter-dependency between various MTD mechanisms, an ad hoc combination of MTD techniques can cause profoundly detrimental effect on security, performance and the operational integrity of the system. This project is investigating novel and transformative approaches to formulate a prescriptive framework to instantiate new MTD strategies that are correct-by-construction, from an arbitrary list of MTD mechanisms. The proposed framework enables integrating MTD mechanisms vertically, or horizontally, while balancing the benefit and cost of the synthesized integrated MTD strategy. As a case study, two main classes of MTD mechanisms, namely, Host Configuration Mutation and Network Configuration Mutation, are integrated to create a cohesive and more powerful composite MTD mechanism. To this end, the results of this research enable new theoretical foundations and transformative approaches in the science of moving target defense by contributing to the understanding of automated reasoning for moving target defense synthesis and evaluation. As this far-forward looking EAGER proposal exhibits high-risk, it also entails high-value that is to be always many steps ahead of attackers. Through the development of a framework for reasoning about MTD, MTD course modules will be developed. The software artifacts permit for further experimentation and progress in this area.