BCFR: Blockchain-based Controller Against False Flow Rule Injection in SDN

Abstract

Software Defined Networking (SDN) technology increases the evolution of Internet and network development. SDN, with its logical centralization of controllers and global network overview changes the network's characteristics, on term of flexibility, availability and programmability. However, this development increased the network communication security challenges. To enhance the SDN security, we propose the BCFR solution to avoid false flow rules injection in SDN data layer devices. In this solution, we use the blockchain technology to provide the controller authentication and the integrity of the traffic flow circulated between the controller and the other network elements. This work is implemented using OpenStack platform and Onos controller. The evaluation results show the effectiveness of our proposal.