PyMTDEvaluator: A Tool for Time-Based Moving Target Defense Evaluation: Tool description paper

Abstract

This paper presents PyMTDEvaluator, a tool for evaluating the effectiveness of time-based Moving Target Defense (MTD) against availability attacks (e.g., Denial of Service - DoS, resource starvation attacks). PyMTDEvaluator is based on simulation runs of an extended deterministic Stochastic Petri Net (SPN) and offers a user-friendly interface where it is possible to analyze and compare MTD policies with different parameters. The SPN design relies on knowledge obtained from empirical observation. PyMTDEvaluator provides results such as probability of attack success, availability, and system capacity to support MTD design decision making. The tool allows analyzing and comparing several scenarios in the same evaluation, thus enabling the study of the pros and cons of different MTD deployment alternatives. PyMTDEvaluator aims to be part of the toolset for MTD policies design. It is also valuable for sensitivity analysis of MTD-enabled system parameters.