A framework for maximizing the survivability of network dependent services

Abstract

As a consequence of the developments in information technology and the Internet, the world is getting increasingly dependent upon distributed systems and network services. Unfortunately, the security of these services has not kept pace with the advances in information technology itself. Security practitioners accept that, a system that is connected to an unbounded network, e.g., the Internet, will be vulnerable to attacks regardless of its security features. However, the emerging discipline of survivability can help ensure that such systems deliver essential services and maintain essential properties, such as integrity, confidentiality and performance, despite the presence of intrusions. Although survivability has been accepted as a means of sufficiently addressing the security problems of current network services, unfortunately, the studies that have been done on network survivability so far are not mature enough and they lack quantifiable metrics. To address this lack of network survivability measure, a global connectivity metric is developed in this thesis. Additionally, an election protocol based on this metric is designed for the SAAM prototype to enhance the survivability of the SAAM server.