NetWarden: Mitigating Network Covert Channels without Performance Loss

Authors: 

Jiarong Xing, Adam Morrison, and Ang Chen, Rice University

Abstract: 

Network covert channels are an advanced threat to the security and privacy of cloud systems. One common limitation of existing defenses is that they all come at the cost of performance. This presents significant barriers to their practical deployment in high-speed networks. We sketch the design of NetWarden, a novel defense whose key design goal is to preserve TCP performance while mitigating covert channels. The use of programmable data planes makes it possible for NetWarden to adapt defenses that were only demonstrated before as proof of concept, and apply them at linespeed. Moreover, NetWarden uses a set of performance boosting techniques to temporarily increase the performance of connections that have been affected by channel mitigation, with the ultimate goal of neutralizing its impact on performance. Our simulation provides initial evidence that NetWarden can mitigate several covert channels with little performance disturbance. As ongoing work, we are working on a full system design and implementation of NetWarden.

Open Access Media

USENIX is committed to Open Access to the research presented at our events. Papers and proceedings are freely available to everyone once the event begins. Any video, audio, and/or slides that are posted after the event are also free and open to everyone. Support USENIX and our commitment to Open Access.

BibTeX
@inproceedings {234851,
author = {Jiarong Xing and Adam Morrison and Ang Chen},
title = {{NetWarden}: Mitigating Network Covert Channels without Performance Loss},
booktitle = {11th USENIX Workshop on Hot Topics in Cloud Computing (HotCloud 19)},
year = {2019},
address = {Renton, WA},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/hotcloud19/presentation/xing},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = jul
}