How to Implement Masquerade Attack in NS2

To implement the masquerade attack that happens while an attacker impersonates alternative entity like a legitimate user or node to get unauthorized access to resources or interrupt the network communication. In the simulator NS2, we can simulate a masquerade attack by set up the malicious node to spoof the individuality of another legitimate node and also communicate with other nodes in the network. We provide detailed theoretical procedure to execute and simulate it in the NS2:

Conceptual Steps to Simulate a Masquerade Attack in NS2:

  1. Set Up the Network Topology:
    • Describe a network with legitimate nodes which is communicate with each other.
    • Launch a malicious node that will mimic a legitimate node by spoofing its identity such as MAC address or IP address and transfer the traffic to the target nodes.
  2. Simulate Spoofed Identity:
    • The malicious node will send packets which emerge to originate from a legitimate node, thus the attack masquerading as the legitimate node.
  3. Monitor the Impact on the Network:
    • Compute the network’s response to the attack like how the target node responds to the spoofed packets, also whether the masquerade attack interrupts the normal communication.

Tcl Script for Simulating a Masquerade Attack in NS2:

# Create a new simulator

set ns [new Simulator]

# Open trace file for output

set tracefile [open out.tr w]

$ns trace-all $tracefile

# Define network nodes

set n0 [$ns node]  ;# Legitimate node 1 (Sender)

set n1 [$ns node]  ;# Legitimate node 2 (Receiver)

set n2 [$ns node]  ;# Malicious node (Masquerade Attacker)

# Create duplex links between nodes

$ns duplex-link $n0 $n1 1Mb 10ms DropTail  ;# Link between legitimate sender and receiver

$ns duplex-link $n2 $n1 1Mb 10ms DropTail  ;# Attacker link to the legitimate receiver

# Define TCP agents for legitimate communication between n0 and n1

set tcp0 [new Agent/TCP]

set sink0 [new Agent/TCPSink]

$ns attach-agent $n0 $tcp0

$ns attach-agent $n1 $sink0

$ns connect $tcp0 $sink0

# Create an FTP traffic source to simulate normal communication

set ftp0 [new Application/FTP]

$ftp0 attach-agent $tcp0

$ns at 1.0 “$ftp0 start”

# Masquerade Attack: Malicious node sends packets pretending to be n0 (legitimate sender)

proc masquerade_attack {attacker target legit_node} {

global ns

set udp [new Agent/UDP]

$ns attach-agent $attacker $udp

set cbr [new Application/Traffic/CBR]

$cbr attach-agent $udp

$cbr set packetSize_ 512

$cbr set interval_ 0.1  ;# Regular packet sending

# Simulate the malicious node masquerading as the legitimate sender (n0)

puts “Masquerade attack: Malicious node ($attacker) is impersonating $legit_node.”

$ns at 2.0 “$cbr start”

}

# Start the masquerade attack where n2 pretends to be n0 and communicates with n1

$ns at 2.0 “masquerade_attack $n2 $n1 $n0”

# End the simulation after 10 seconds

$ns at 10.0 “finish”

proc finish {} {

global ns tracefile

$ns flush-trace

close $tracefile

exit 0

}

# Run the simulation

$ns run

Explanation of the Script:

  1. Nodes:
    • n0: Legitimate sender node.
    • n1: Legitimate receiver node or the target of the masquerade attack.
    • n2: Malicious attacker node that mimicking the masquerade attack by simulating to be the sender node n0.
  2. Legitimate Traffic:
    • A TCP connection is ascertained among the legitimate sender n0 and legitimate receiver n1. The FTP traffic is used to replicate the usual communication.
  3. Masquerade Attack Simulation:
    • The malicious node n2 transfers UDP traffic to the node n1 that simulating to be n0. It is theoretically replicating a masquerade attack by spoofing the legitimate sender’s identity and transferring the traffic to the target.
    • The CBR (Constant Bit Rate) application produces usual traffic from the attacker to the target that mimicking a flow of spoofed packets.
  4. Traffic Analysis:
    • The trace file (out.tr) will capture the legitimate traffic and malicious traffic that permitting to see how the masqueraded traffic impacts the communication among the nodes n0 and n1.

Post-Simulation Analysis:

  1. Trace File Analysis:
    • Evaluate the trace file to the identify packets deliver by the malicious node (n2) allowing to be the legitimate sender (n0), after running the simulation. Observe for packet flows that emerge to come from the node n0 however that are actually generated by the node n2.
    • We can verify if the legitimate receiver (n1) reacts to the masqueraded traffic and how this impacts the legitimate communication.
  2. NAM Visualization:
    • We can use the NAM (Network Animator) to envision the network and monitor how the malicious node transfers the packets which emerge to originate from the legitimate sender (n0).
  3. Impact on the Network:
    • We can observe how the masquerade attack effects network performance, like triggering the packet confusion, latency, or disrupting legitimate communication.

Example of Masquerade Attack Visualization in NAM:

In NAM, we would detect the following:

  • Legitimate Traffic: Normal packet flow among the legitimate sender n0 and legitimate receiver n1.
  • Masquerade Traffic: Packets transferred by the malicious node (n2) which emerge to originate from n0. It replicates the masquerade attack in which n2 impersonates n0.

Enhancing the Simulation:

  1. Multiple Attackers:
    • Launch more malicious nodes to replicate a more difficult situation in which several nodes are mimicking legitimate users or nodes, and increasing the complexity for the target to differentiate among the legitimate and malicious traffic.
  2. Varying Traffic Patterns:
    • Test with various traffic patterns for the masquerade attack, like bursty traffic or variable packet sizes, to replicate various attack approaches.
  3. Advanced Spoofing:
    • Rather than basically sending traffic, the attacker node (n2) might attempt to intercept and change the traffic from n0 to more simulate the impacts of a sophisticated masquerade attack.
  4. Legitimate Response:
    • We can replicate how the legitimate nodes detect or react to the masquerade attack by introducing certain form of filtering or packet verification, relying on how difficult we require to create the simulation.

Through this module, we have shown a sequential process, executing and examine the Masquerade attack via the simulation software NS2. Further precise information on this topic will be shared as well. Check out ns2project.com for some cool project ideas! We’re here to help you nail your research. If you want to dive into implementing a Masquerade Attack in NS2, just reach out to us for the best tips and tricks.