ARP Spoofing Defense: Leveraging NAC Deployments, SIEM Monitoring, and Incident Response

On-path attackers intercept and modify communication between the browser and the server. While two devices communicate, a man-in-the-middle attack redirects traffic to allow attackers to view content such as private messages or login credentials. Strong encryption mechanisms ensure intercepted data cannot be viewed without a decryption key, and digital hashes help to verify messages have not been modified in transit. Similarly, ARP attacks allow attackers to redirect traffic by associating their MAC address with a target host’s IP address. While segmenting a network reduces the impact of ARP attacks, Network Access Control (NAC) solutions prevent attackers from joining the network in the first place. Secure your network by leveraging Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Security discusses implementing an NAC solution to protect corporate networks: “In order to prevent the bypassing of ARP poisoning by setting static ARP on the blocked target device, bidirectional poisoning function is provided to control the reply packet generated from the communication target, such as a gateway, and static ARP setting can be blocked through the NAC Agent” (Genians, 2023, para. 12). It suggests that when configured appropriately, the bidirectional poisoning function in NAC deployments can detect and prevent network access by blocking attempts to configure static ARP entries. Organizations can refer to Cisco’s Network Admission Control Framework for guidance for managing network access policies and endpoints (Cisco, n.d.). While NAC provides comprehensive solutions for combatting ARP spoofing attacks, misconfigured NAC deployments and a lack of awareness from organizations make ARP spoofing a viable option for attackers. SIEM monitoring enables organizations to form comprehensive plans that monitor and prevent ARP spoofing attacks (Zenarmor, 2023). Comprehensive incident response plans often include a VPN to encrypt network traffic, static ARP implementations, ARP verification tools, packet filtering, and monitoring malware and attempts to configure static ARP entries (Raje, 2023). 

References


Cisco. (n.d.) Network Admission Control Framework Deployment Guide. https://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/ns340/ns394/ns171/ns466/ns617/net_design_guidance0900aecd80417226.pdf

Genians. (2023, August 4). Secure your network by leveraging address resolution protocol (ARP) security. https://www.genians.com/learn-more/insights/secure-your-network-by-leveraging-address-resolution-protocol-arp-security/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20prevent%20the,blocked%20through%20the%20NAC%20Agent. 

Professor Messer. (2023). On-path Attacks – N10-008 CompTIA Network+ : 4.2. https://www.professormesser.com/network-plus/n10-008/n10-008-video/on-path-attacks-n10-008/#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20different%20ways,cause%20this%20on%2Dpath%20attack.

Raje, V. (2023, March 2). How to Identify And Prevent ARP Poisoning or Spoofing Attacks. https://www.appknox.com/blog/prevent-arp-spoofing-attacks


Zenarmor. (2023, September 20). What is a Cloud Security Audit?. https://www.zenarmor.com/docs/network-security-tutorials/what-is-cloud-security-audit

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