OpenFlow Virtual Appliance

Abstract

Network forensics vis-a-vis cloud computing offerings can be leveraged to address the needs of enterprise-grade spyware solutions online. A modular, extensible cloud architecture with intrinsic support for efficient security monitoring is proposed and an implementation architecture which facilitates dynamic interface with OpenFlow hardware to create infinite flexibility in managing security decisions is presented. A forensic DataCenter model that integrates remote security monitoring using an intelligent Virtual Security Gateway in a cloud domain was developed as part of the work. An OpenFlow Virtual Appliance is proposed as a security hardware interface for thin clients connected to the Cloud Sypware Robot (CSR) server. The cloud ontology-Software as a Service (SaaS) model was used for the CSR application conveying several security benefits. The goal is to facilitate an open, service-based, online network forensics application that is transparently provisioned for users. The paper proposes a security foundation for next-generation enterprise-grade cloud computing.