How to implement network probe attack in OMNeT++

To implement a network probe attack in OMNeT++ has encompasses to emulate the scenario where an attacker systematically scans the network to collect the data about the network topology, active hosts, open ports, and services running on the hosts and this kind of attack can be mimicked by configuring an attacker node to transfer the probing packets to different nodes in the network and then evaluating the responses. The given below is the brief procedures on how to implement the network probe attack in OMNeT++:

Step-by-Step Implementation:

1. Set up OMNeT++ and INET Framework

• Make sure that OMNeT++ and the INET framework are installed and configured on system. The INET framework delivers essential modules for network simulations.

2. Define the Network Topology

• Initiate by describe the network topology in a .ned file. This topology should contain numerous several like hosts, routers and an attacker node that will conduct the probing.

Example:

network NetworkProbeAttack

{

submodules:

attacker: StandardHost;

host1: StandardHost;

host2: StandardHost;

host3: StandardHost;

router: Router;

connections:

attacker.ethg++ <–> Eth10G <–> router.ethg++;

host1.ethg++ <–> Eth10G <–> router.ethg++;

host2.ethg++ <–> Eth10G <–> router.ethg++;

host3.ethg++ <–> Eth10G <–> router.ethg++;

}

3. Create or Configure a Probing Module

• The attacker node will need to execute a module that systematically probes the network. We need to use an existing application module such as PingApp or generate a custom module to analyse the more advanced probing, like port scanning or service enumeration.

Option A: Using PingApp for Basic Probing

• We need to use PingApp to ping various hosts and infer their presence based on their responses.

Example (using PingApp):

*.attacker.numApps = 1

*.attacker.app[0].typename = “PingApp”

*.attacker.app[0].destAddr = “host1;host2;host3”

*.attacker.app[0].startTime = 1s

*.attacker.app[0].sendInterval = 1s

*.attacker.app[0].count = 1

In this configuration:

• destAddr specifies the IP addresses or host names to probe. We need to specify multiple hosts separated by semicolons.
• startTime determines when the probing starts.
• sendInterval is the time interval between probes.
• Count specifies the number of probes to send to each host.

Option B: Creating a Custom Probing Module

• For more advanced probing has port scanning, that need to generate a custom C++ module that transfer the perticular types of packets to different ports on the target hosts and listens for responses.

Example of a custom probing module:

class ProbeModule : public cSimpleModule

{

protected:

virtual void initialize() override;

virtual void handleMessage(cMessage *msg) override;

void probeNetwork();

};

void ProbeModule::initialize()

{

// Schedule the first probing event

scheduleAt(simTime() + par(“startTime”), new cMessage(“probe”));

}

void ProbeModule::handleMessage(cMessage *msg)

{

if (msg->isSelfMessage()) {

probeNetwork();

scheduleAt(simTime() + par(“interval”), msg); // Re-schedule the next probe

} else {

delete msg;

}

}

void ProbeModule::probeNetwork()

{

for (int port = 1; port <= 1024; ++port) {

auto packet = new cPacket(“ProbePacket”);

packet->setByteLength(64); // Set a typical size for a probe packet

// Set destination, port, and other relevant information

// Send the probe to the destination host/port

send(packet, “out”);

}

}

Define_Module(ProbeModule);

In this example:

• The module systematically probes a range of ports on the target hosts.
• We need to configure the module to probe the particular hosts or ranges of IP addresses.

4. Configure the Target Hosts

• The hosts in the network should be configured to respond to probes and usually concludes to enabling standard network services like ICMP, TCP that will reply to pings or other probing requests.

Example:

*.host1.app[0].typename = “TcpServerApp”

*.host2.app[0].typename = “TcpServerApp”

*.host3.app[0].typename = “TcpServerApp”

5. Run the Simulation

• Compile OMNeT++ project and run the simulation.
• The attacker node will begin probing the network according to configuration.

6. Analyze the Results

• Use OMNeT++’s tools to observe the network traffic and evaluate how the attacker’s probes are managed by the network.
• We can log responses to determine which hosts and services were discovered by the probe attack.

7. Enhancements and Variations

• Port Scanning: Extend the probing module to scan a wider range of ports or to execute various scanning approaches like SYN scan, FIN scan.
• Service Enumeration: After classifying the active hosts, the attacker module can attempt to compute running services by sending service-specific requests.
• Defense Mechanisms: To execute intrusion detection or firewall rules in the network to monitor how they prevent the probe attack.

Example Files

We need to generate the following files as part of simulation:

• NetworkProbeAttack.ned: To describe the network topology.
• omnetpp.ini: Contains configuration settings for the probing attack.
• ProbeModule.cc: Custom C++ code for the probing module, if you choose to create one.

In this setting, we clearly learn about how the network probe attack will generate the simulation then collect the data then it emulate the scenarios using the OMNeT++ tool. If you need more details regarding the network probe attack we will provide that too.

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