Packet Forwarding Authentication Mechanism Based on Cipher Identification in Software-defined Network

To deal with the lack of a secure and efficient data source authentication mechanism in Software-Defined Network (SDN), a packet forwarding authentication mechanism based on cipher identification is proposed. Firstly, a packet forwarding authentication model based on cipher identification is established, where the cipher identification is identified as a passport of IP packets entering and leaving the network. Secondly, the SDN batch anonymous authentication protocol is designed to decentralize the authentication function of the SDN controller to the SDN switch. The SDN switch performs user authentication and cipher identification verification, and quickly filters forgery, falsification, and other illegal packets to improve the unified authentication and management efficiency of the SDN controller, while providing users with the conditions of privacy protection. Thirdly, a scheme for sampling and verifying packets based on cipher identification in any node is proposed, where any attacker can not bypass the packet detection by inferring the sample, to ensure the authenticity of the packet while reducing its processing delay. Finally, safety analysis and performance evaluation are conducted. The results show that this mechanism can quickly detect packet falsification and tampering and resist ID analysis attacks, but at the same time it introduces about 9.6% forwarding delay and less than 10% communication overhead.