Its architecture is central, agile and programmatically configured. It is improving the security of SDN environment. It is useful for enhancing the security framework of the controller. By-line and Affiliation: Sean W.Pritchard, Department of Electrical, Electonic and computer Engineering University of Pretoria, South Africa Gerhard P.Hancke Department, Gerhard P.Hancke Department of Electrical, Electonic and Computer Engineering University of Pretoria, South Africa Adnan M. Abu-Mahfouz Meraka Institute Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Pretoria, South Africa and logging/security audit services.
The role based authorization FortNOX and ciphers like AES and DES will be used for encryption of data and improving the security of SDN environment. These techniques are useful for enhancing the security framework of the controller. KeywordsSDN; wireless SDN; security threats; AES; DES; FortNOX; TLS.
Introduction
SDN has emerged as a flexible, secure and well-managed network. The architecture of SDN provides a central network control and its management via controller [1]. It segregates the data forwarding functions from the control plane of network.
The control is transferred to a centralized controller to take decisions related to routing and then communicate those decisions to the data-forwarding plane [2].
Despite of all its features and functions, security of SDN is still considered to be a major concern. The configuration errors can lead to serious consequences as well as the aspects of programmability makes it vulnerable to attacks. The authentication, security and integrity of the network are severely affected. The architecture of SDN can be exploited to improve network security by providing security monitoring, analysis and response system [3].
The basic architecture has been shown in Fig. 1. SDN is cost-effective, dynamic, manageable and adaptable. Initially, it was being used for wired networks but with swift increase in the use of devices including smartphones and tablets has led to a great increase in data traffic in these devices. WLANs are used in homes, businesses and in public environments. There is a one-to-one mapping between a client and a light virtual access point with a unique and different BSSID.
The client can switch control from one AP to another without any notification that connection was reestablished. There is no delay in communication or hardware as one device can move LVAP form one device or AP to another. This paper focuses on the security issues of SDNs. It presents some specific design issues of securing SDN. Subsequently, this paper also analyzes the state of software-defined security in order to improve the security properties which are confidentiality, integrity and availability [4].