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Simulation-based Approaches to Studying Effectiveness of Moving-Target Network Defense
Published
Author(s)
Rui Zhuang, Su Zhang, Scott DeLoach, Xinming Ou, Anoop Singhal
Abstract
Moving-target defense has been hypothesized as a potential game changer in cyber defense, including that for computer networks. However there has been little work to study how much proactively changing a network's configuration can increase the difficulty for attackers and thus improve the resilience of the system under attack. In this paper we present a basic design schema of a moving-target network defense system. Based on this design schema, we conducted a simulation-based study to investigate the degree to which proactively changing a network's various parameters can decrease an adversary's chance for success. We believe this is an important first step towards understanding why and how the concept of a moving target can be successfully applied to computer network defenses.
Zhuang, R.
, Zhang, S.
, DeLoach, S.
, Ou, X.
and Singhal, A.
(2012),
Simulation-based Approaches to Studying Effectiveness of Moving-Target Network Defense, National Symposium on Moving Target Research, Annapolis, MD, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=911408
(Accessed October 8, 2025)