Abstract
Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS) is recognized to be one of
the catastrophic attacks against various digital communication entities.
Software-defined networking (SDN) is an emerging technology for computer
networks that uses open protocols for controlling switches and routers
placed at the network edges by using specialized open programmable
interfaces. In this paper, a detailed study on DDoS threats prevalent in
SDN is presented. Firstly, SDN features are examined from the
perspective of security, and then, a discussion on assessment of SDN
security features is done. Further, two viewpoints towards protecting
the networks against DDoS attacks are elaborated. In the first view, SDN
utilizes its abilities to secure the conventional networks. In the
second view, SDN may become a victim of the threats itself because of
the centralized control mechanism. The main focus of this research work
is towards discovering critical security implications in SDN while
reviewing the current ongoing research studies. By emphasizing the
available state of the art techniques, an extensive review towards the
advancement of the SDN security is provided to the researchers and IT
communities.