SDN 2020 - International Workshop on BlockSecSDN: Blockchain for Secure Software Defined Networking in Smart Communities

The emergence of SDN technology helps to isolate the control plane from the data plane and solves the issues through network programmability. The SDN is a centralized approach and easily modify the network topology, and in addition maintain data consistency and interoperability among heterogeneous IoT devices with the help of automation. Although SDN technology performs resilient and reliable connections in heterogeneous environment based on secure communication protocols designed by the network programmers but still chances of security threats may occur as single controller is handling the complete network infrastructure. With the widespread adoption of wireless sensors in smart communities, the device-to-device communication is susceptible to security vulnerabilities and resulting in devastating attacks on the network controller. IoT-enabled devices are insecure as for example sensors may be infected by malware attacks have subsequently comprised the control plane. Consequently, ensuring the security and privacy techniques may contribute to defend from security attacks and provide reliable services in smart communities. Moreover, the higher costs, overhead and complexity of traditional cryptographic primitives make it necessary to design lightweight and novel security solutions for SDN in smart communities. The amalgamation of multiple technologies in smart communities makes it further necessary to provide secure communication and computing paradigm.
Addressing the need for a flexible network architecture that adapts to the diverse requirement of end users in smart communities, this workshop aims to serve as a platform for researchers from academia and industries, to promote the design and development of new ideas, tools and technologies related to Secure and Dependable SDN in Smart communities.
Nowadays, Blockchain, a distributed ledger, is often linked to the financial service industry due to the concept of its underlying inception and the success, i.e, bitcoin. But, it is a wrong conception to confine blockchain to only one vertical. Contrary to popular opinion, blockchain can be closely associated with security and thereon can transverse across all the industries and smart communities. The distributed ledger shifts access security from a single and centralized point of failure towards a complex and intertwined decentralized model. Under this umbrella, one possibility is blockchain for Secure SDN, and large scale network enterprises are already investing and exploring this opportunity.