Protecting satellite networks from disassociation DoS attacks

Security is an important concern in satellite multicast communications. Due to its highly dynamic broadcast nature, the multicast systems generally have a large number of terminal members with frequent join-leave characteristic. Therefore, the satellite networks face significant security challenges. Denial of service (DoS) is one of the most harmful attacks to the satellite networks and also terrestrial fixed or mobile networks. It can maliciously prevent legitimate users from accessing the service. It is especially true for disassociation DoS attacks where an attacker sends bogus disassociation requests to disable the communication between the server and their legitimate clients. In this paper, the main focus is on disassociation DoS attacks on the satellite networks and we propose solutions to detect and defend against disassociation DoS attacks.