Multi-layer Access Control for SDN-Based Telco Clouds

The telecom industry has recently started to adapt the emerging paradigm of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) in combination with cloud computing to the telecommunication world. Both technologies enable a high degree of automation and flexibility for existing and novel networks. As this combination can reduce costs and enables the development of new business opportunities, telecom providers build socalled telco clouds leveraging SDN for operating the underlying network infrastructure. In this context, a major concern is to maintain security once network functions and SDN controllers run virtualized inside the telco clouds. In particular, compromised cloud applications and SDN controllers may disturb correct functioning such that costs increase, security deteriorates or reputation degrades. Therefore, we propose a multi-layer access control system to mitigate such adverse consequences and, thereby, focus on securing both SDN’s application layer as well as its control layer.