Cognitive Networks: Towards Self-Aware Networks

12.5. Discussion

From a security perspective, the key issue to answer when looking at new technology is whether it will be more secure than the existing ones. Unfortunately, new technologies bring with them new threats, and cognitive networks in this respect are not different. As such, it is impossible to factually demonstrate, at this stage, that cognitive networks will be more secure than IP networks. In particular, the mix between wired and wireless network is likely to leave open the door to saturation attacks, as network equipment realizing the bridge between the two worlds will need to be open to many devices. Furthermore, from a security perspective, the inherent dynamicity introduced in cognitive networks means that there cannot be a fixed static security policy, but that the security policy will need to take into account the same parameters that influence the configuration of the network and its behavior. Dynamic security policies are a domain that has not been well studied in the literature, and the solution to this problem will have an impact on cognitive networks. However, we expect that intrusion detection may benefit from cognitive networks in at least two dimensions: detection and response.

12.5.1. Paradigm Changes in Detection

By definition, cognitive networks monitor their activity to respond to environmental changes. This is also the basis of intrusion detection. By introducing additional variables whose monitoring is seamlessly integrated into the architecture ...