Security Considerations of SDN Networks During DDoS Attacks in Load Balancing

Abstract

Cloud computing deals with the dynamic allocation of resources on demand from any location. Load balancing is the phenomenon of ensuring the distribution of traffic and the operation of loads on multiple servers. There are security considerations where the load balancers are potential targets for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. This occurs when the attacker overwhelms the system with a flood of traffic, causing it to become unresponsive. The paper discusses the security challenges and attacks that affect workload distribution across servers dealing with access control mechanisms and concerns about multi-tenancy risks. The analysis involves identifying attacks in load-balancing systems from pre-existing frameworks by utilizing tools like Snort, Wireshark, and MATLAB for DDoS attacks. Furthermore, the paper does a comparative study on the established works. It addresses the best mitigation strategies for different types of DDoS attacks, such as Smurfing and TCP-SYN attacks, thus enhancing resilience with SDN architecture and multi-layered defense mechanisms.