Experiments with simulation of attacks against computer networks

The paper describes implementation issues of and experiments with the software tool "Attack Simulator" intended for active assessment of computer networks vulnerability at the stages of design and deployment. The suggested approach is based on malefactor's intention modeling, ontology-based attack structuring and state machines specification of attack scenarios. The paper characterizes a generalized agent-based architecture of Attack Simulator. The generation of attacks against computer network model and real computer network is analyzed. The experiments demonstrating efficiency of Attack Simulator in generating various attacks scenarios against computer networks with different configurations and security policies are considered.