Title: Tools for worm experimentation on the DETER testbed

Authors: Songjie Wei, Alefiya Hussain, Jelena Mirkovic, Calvin Ko

Addresses: University of Delaware, 103 Smith Hall, Newark, DE 19711, USA. ' Cobham, Inc., 2401 E. El Segundo Blvd. Ste. 100, El Segundo, CA 90245, USA. ' USC Information Sciences Institute, 4676 Admiralty Way Suite 1001, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292, USA. ' Cobham, Inc., 710 Lakeway Dr. Ste. 195, Sunnyvale, CA 94085, USA

Abstract: Worm experimentation is challenging for researchers today because of the lack of standardised tools to simulate and emulate worm spreads in a realistic setting. We have developed two tools for the DETER testbed to aid in worm experimentation: the PAWS simulator for internet-wide worm propagation studies and the WE emulator for analysis of worm spread and defence strategies in local area networks. We evaluate performance and fidelity of our tools by replicating results from recently published research. Both tools can be easily configured as per user specifications, facilitate comparison with past research and reduce the barrier to entry for worm researchers.

Keywords: worm experimentation; network testbeds; emulation; simulation; distributed systems; communication networks; worm spread; worm propagation; local area networks; LANs; internet worms; worm defence; malware.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCNDS.2010.033972

International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems, 2010 Vol.5 No.1/2, pp.151 - 171

Published online: 05 Jul 2010 *

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