Modeling the Ping of Death Attack on an E-Commerce Systems

With the increasing reliance on online services and the exponential growth of e-commerce, securing digital platforms against cyber threats has become a priority. This master's thesis addresses the issue of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, particularly the Ping of Death (PoD) attack, employing model-driven engineering to assess risk and develop mitigation strategies for a standard e-commerce system. The focal point of this research is system design integration using Unified modeling language (UML), modified with profile-specific security design. The primary contribution of this thesis is the development of a UMLsec4NDF, a modified UMLsec profile designed to expand the scope of security modeling at the network level by creating security-specific UML diagrams for network threats. The UMLsec4NDF paradigm facilitates the introduction of innovative stereotypes, thereby enabling a more precise definition of security attributes, such as traffic filtering, attack mitigation, detection and response types, inspection depth, and communication protocol behavior. These stereotypes are not available in the standard UMLsec profile and were created to represent modern cybersecurity controls including firewalls, Intrusion Detection System (IDS), Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), and router configurations relevant to DoS scenarios. This thesis provides a case study simulating a PoD attack against a cloud-based e-commerce platform to showcase the application of the expanded modeling technique. The architecture under analysis comprises a cloud server, a network router, a firewall, ICS, IDS, and IPS. Utilizing Papyrus, these components are modeled and represented with various UML diagrams. Including, Component diagrams are used to illustrate the system's structural framework and the respective responsibilities within the system. Sequence diagrams are employed to illustrate the sequence of messages and intrusions, with a primary focus on the flow of malformed Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packets. Activity diagrams are a type of flowchart that illustrate the workflow of a system and the processes that are involved in carrying out those operations. Class diagrams delineate the attackers, system configuration, and defense policies, while communication diagrams illustrate the dynamic relations among objects during an attack. To ensure the rigor and validity of the proposed models, Object Constraint Language (OCL) rules are defined and enforced on the UML elements. These constraints are instrumental in validating major security considerations, including the mandatory encryption of links that are openly exposed, the implementation of suitable packet filtering policies on firewalls, and the mandatory mitigation of critical components that are externally facing. The organization employing OCL is capable of validating the posture of the system's defenses in the early stages without the necessity of full implementation. The findings demonstrate that extending UMLsec with domain-specific security stereotypes enables more precise threat modeling and enhances system robustness. The utilization of UMLsec4NDF is instrumental in the capture of network defense logic, the modeling of security policies, and the illustration of specific behaviors and responses of PoDs. It facilitates the preservation of stringent security requirements and low-level technical configurations, thereby ensuring seamless integration with secure-by-design methodologies. The contribution pertains to the domain of Model-Based Security Engineering (MBSE), offering a framework that is robust, adaptable, and extensible. This framework can formally model and analyze sophisticated cyber threats. The text specifically addresses the gap in UMLsec-based approaches dealing with the vulnerabilities arising from the attack with fragmented packet handling and protocol misuse issues that are central to the Ping of Death attack. In summary, this thesis presents a new perspective, practical, and effective method of formal security modeling in e-commerce. This method utilizes UML and its domain-specific extensions. The UMLsec4NDF profile has the capacity to be generalized to encompass other network-layer vulnerabilities, including SYN floods, UDP floods, and even spoofing at the protocol level. One potential avenue for future research involves the integration of the model into simulation frameworks or formal verification systems, such as CPN Tools or Alloy. This integration would facilitate dynamic security evaluation and runtime verification.