Measuring the Overall Security of Network Configurations Using Attack Graphs

Published

July 27, 2007

Author(s)

Lingyu Wang, Anoop Singhal, Sushil Jajodia

Abstract

Today?s computer systems face sophisticated intrusions during which multiple vulnerabilities are combined for reaching an attack goal. To quantitatively assess the security of a network, one must first understand the interplay between vulnerabilities and how they can be combined for an attack. In this paper, we propose an attack resistance metric for assessing and comparing the security of different network configurations. The metric is based on intuitive properties derived from common sense. We describe the metric at an abstract level as two composition operators with features to express additional constraints. It is our belief that the metric will lead to novel quantitative approaches to vulnerability analysis, network hardening and attack responses.

Proceedings Title

Conference on Data and Applications Security | Annual | 21st | 2007 | IFIP

Conference Dates

July 8-11, 2007

Conference Location

, USA

Conference Title

21st Annual IFIP Conference on Data and Applications Security

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

Attack Graphs, Information Security Metrics, Vulnerability Analysis, Network Hardening

Citation

Wang, L. , Singhal, A. and Jajodia, S. (2007), Measuring the Overall Security of Network Configurations Using Attack Graphs, Conference on Data and Applications Security | Annual | 21st | 2007 | IFIP, , USA (Accessed October 8, 2025)