Nessi2 simulator for large-scale DDoS attack analysis

The aim of the article is to thoroughly analyze the possibilities and techniques of performing strategic cyberattacks on an internetwork, such as the Internet. The main focus will be on large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks for three primary reasons. Firstly, they appear to have the biggest infrastructural requirements and require coordinated, simultaneous effort to be effective on the scale desired to impact the majority of a victim country, territory or corporation. Such requirements can only be met with significant resources, often associated with powerful organizations and governments. Secondly, in the most notable cyberattacks of the last few years — the 2007 Estonia attacks and the 2008 South Ossetia attacks — DDoS was the primary asset. Thirdly, in these attacks DDoS has proven to be very powerful and debilitating for the victim. These three reasons provide solid grounds to believe that a strategic, large-scale DDoS attack on core network elements will be the tool of choice in at least some of the future military cyberconflicts.