Int J Performability Eng ›› 2017, Vol. 13 ›› Issue (5): 598-609.doi: 10.23940/ijpe.17.05.p5.598609

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A Covert Communication Scheme based on DNA Microdots for Port Hopping

Leyi Shia, b, *, Yuwen Cuia, Xiaotong Liua, Hui Suna, Zhiyu Xuea, and Shufen Zhangb, c   

  1. aCollege of Computer and Communication Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China
    bHebei Key Laboratory of Data Science and Application, Tangshan, 063210, China
    cNorth China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, 063210, China

Abstract: Port hopping is an effective solution for Moving Target Defense (MTD), which randomly changes the server’s service port number to provide a robust communication against malicious Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed DoS (DDoS) attack. Although a series of novel and feasible port hopping mechanisms have been proposed and implemented, most of them cannot prevent the messages transmitted in the network from being intercepted by an attacker. This paper addresses the problem of defending the eavesdropping attack with the port hopping process. We propose a new module that combines the properties of port hopping and the encryption of DNA microdots to resist the eavesdropping attacks in the network. The proposed port hopping process is compatible with the UDP and TCP protocols, in which the four IP addresses equipped in the server stand for the different nucleotides of DNA strands. We implement the proposed scheme and conduct the theoretical analysis on it. The theoretical analysis and experimental results illustrate that the proposed scheme can effectively defend against the DoS/DDoS and eavesdropping attacks.


Submitted on March 16, 2017; Revised on June 2, 2017; Accepted on August 15, 2017
References: 24