Methodologies for Network Topology Discovery and Detection of MAC and IP Spoofing Attacks

Abstract

The sustained growth and innovation of information technologies, combined with the resulting complexity in communication infrastructures, has pushed the network into an increasingly critical role within organizations of all sizes. In order to assure that operations are aligned with the business needs, monitoring and management practices are gaining importance across all network domains. As a result, network managers need the best possible tools for managing the network infrastructure and assuring that it will play its essential part in supporting the organization in a reliable, predictable, efficient and cost-effective manner. This paper proposes several algorithms that will be used on an integrated network monitoring open-source tool: an algorithm for network topology discovery and two algorithms for the detection and blocking of MAC and IP spoofing network attacks. The proposed approaches are based on the SNMP protocol, which is currently supported by most network devices, and the performance tests that were made show that they are effective, reliable and very easy to deploy in real operating scenarios.