Replicated Testbed Experiments for the Evaluation of a Wide-range of DDoS Defenses

Cyber security attacks and defenses are constantly evolving, requiring us to re-tool our networks at a regular pace. New systems are usually evaluated within restricted corporate or enterprise networks, with limited or no access for researchers and cyber security students. In this paper we present a longitudinal study of the design and evaluation of six novel defense technologies to thwart next generation DDoS attacks. While the technologies were developed independently as part of the DARPA XD3 program, the evaluations were conducted over the last year on the DETER cyber security testbed and on Amazon Web Services. We present the evaluation framework, the results, and the inherent challenges in evaluating a wide range of defense technologies on the testbed. We believe the technologies presented in this paper will aid in the development of relevant and plausible living in the future operational scenarios for cyber ranges.