Automatic creation of VPN backup paths for improved resilience against BGP-attackers

Abstract

Virtual private networks (VPNs) play an integral role in corporate and governmental communication systems nowadays. As such they are by definition an exposed target for attacks on the availability of whole communication infrastructures. A comparably effective way to disturb VPNs is the announcement of the involved IP address ranges by compromised BGP routers. Since in the foreseeable future criminals may focus on such attacks, this article discusses the intelligent creation of backup paths in the context of VPNs as a countermeasure. The proposed system is evaluated in simulations as well as in a prototypic environment.