scholarly journals Reinforcement Learning for Efficient Network Penetration Testing

Information ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed C. Ghanem ◽  
Thomas M. Chen

Penetration testing (also known as pentesting or PT) is a common practice for actively assessing the defenses of a computer network by planning and executing all possible attacks to discover and exploit existing vulnerabilities. Current penetration testing methods are increasingly becoming non-standard, composite and resource-consuming despite the use of evolving tools. In this paper, we propose and evaluate an AI-based pentesting system which makes use of machine learning techniques, namely reinforcement learning (RL) to learn and reproduce average and complex pentesting activities. The proposed system is named Intelligent Automated Penetration Testing System (IAPTS) consisting of a module that integrates with industrial PT frameworks to enable them to capture information, learn from experience, and reproduce tests in future similar testing cases. IAPTS aims to save human resources while producing much-enhanced results in terms of time consumption, reliability and frequency of testing. IAPTS takes the approach of modeling PT environments and tasks as a partially observed Markov decision process (POMDP) problem which is solved by POMDP-solver. Although the scope of this paper is limited to network infrastructures PT planning and not the entire practice, the obtained results support the hypothesis that RL can enhance PT beyond the capabilities of any human PT expert in terms of time consumed, covered attacking vectors, accuracy and reliability of the outputs. In addition, this work tackles the complex problem of expertise capturing and re-use by allowing the IAPTS learning module to store and re-use PT policies in the same way that a human PT expert would learn but in a more efficient way.

Author(s):  
Ming-Sheng Ying ◽  
Yuan Feng ◽  
Sheng-Gang Ying

AbstractMarkov decision process (MDP) offers a general framework for modelling sequential decision making where outcomes are random. In particular, it serves as a mathematical framework for reinforcement learning. This paper introduces an extension of MDP, namely quantum MDP (qMDP), that can serve as a mathematical model of decision making about quantum systems. We develop dynamic programming algorithms for policy evaluation and finding optimal policies for qMDPs in the case of finite-horizon. The results obtained in this paper provide some useful mathematical tools for reinforcement learning techniques applied to the quantum world.


Author(s):  
Melika Sajadian ◽  
Ana Teixeira ◽  
Faraz S. Tehrani ◽  
Mathias Lemmens

Abstract. Built environments developed on compressible soils are susceptible to land deformation. The spatio-temporal monitoring and analysis of these deformations are necessary for sustainable development of cities. Techniques such as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) or predictions based on soil mechanics using in situ characterization, such as Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) can be used for assessing such land deformations. Despite the combined advantages of these two methods, the relationship between them has not yet been investigated. Therefore, the major objective of this study is to reconcile InSAR measurements and CPT measurements using machine learning techniques in an attempt to better predict land deformation.


Author(s):  
Abdelghafour Harraz ◽  
Mostapha Zbakh

Artificial Intelligence allows to create engines that are able to explore, learn environments and therefore create policies that permit to control them in real time with no human intervention. It can be applied, through its Reinforcement Learning techniques component, using frameworks such as temporal differences, State-Action-Reward-State-Action (SARSA), Q Learning to name a few, to systems that are be perceived as a Markov Decision Process, this opens door in front of applying Reinforcement Learning to Cloud Load Balancing to be able to dispatch load dynamically to a given Cloud System. The authors will describe different techniques that can used to implement a Reinforcement Learning based engine in a cloud system.


Author(s):  
Deepti Rani ◽  
Anju Sangwan ◽  
Anupma Sangwan ◽  
Tajinder Singh

With the enormous growth of sensor networks, information seeking from such networks has become an invaluable source of knowledge for various organizations to enhance the comprehension of people interests. Not only wireless sensor networks (WSNs) but its various classes also remain the hot topics of research. In this chapter, the primary focus is to understand the concept of sensor network in underwater scenario. Various mechanisms are used to recognize the activities underwater using sensor which examines the real-time events. With these features, a few challenges are also associated with sensor networks, which are addressed here. Machine learning (ML) techniques are the perfect key of success to resolve such issues due to their feasibility and adaption in complex problem environment. Therefore, various ML techniques have been explained to enhance the operational performance of WSNs, especially in underwater WSNs (UWSNs). The main objective of this chapter is to understand the concepts of UWSNs and role of ML to address the performance issues of UWSNs.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Becker ◽  
Aveek Purohit ◽  
Zheng Sun

USARSim group at NIST developed a simulated robot that operated in the Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) gaming environment. They used a software PID controller to control the robot in UT3 worlds. Unfortunately, the PID controller did not work well, so NIST asked us to develop a better controller using machine learning techniques. In the process, we characterized the software PID controller and the robot’s behavior in UT3 worlds. Using data collected from our simulations, we compared different machine learning techniques including linear regression and reinforcement learning (RL). Finally, we implemented a RL based controller in Matlab and ran it in the UT3 environment via a TCP/IP link between Matlab and UT3.


2003 ◽  
Vol 06 (03) ◽  
pp. 405-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL DARBYSHIRE

Distillations utilize multi-agent based modeling and simulation techniques to study warfare as a complex adaptive system at the conceptual level. The focus is placed on the interactions between the agents to facilitate study of cause and effect between individual interactions and overall system behavior. Current distillations do not utilize machine-learning techniques to model the cognitive abilities of individual combatants but employ agent control paradigms to represent agents as highly instinctual entities. For a team of agents implementing a reinforcement-learning paradigm, the rate of learning is not sufficient for agents to adapt to this hostile environment. However, by allowing the agents to communicate their respective rewards for actions performed as the simulation progresses, the rate of learning can be increased sufficiently to significantly increase the teams chances of survival. This paper presents the results of trials to measure the success of a team-based approach to the reinforcement-learning problem in a distillation, using reward communication to increase learning rates.


Author(s):  
Shun Otsubo ◽  
Yasutake Takahashi ◽  
Masaki Haruna ◽  
◽  

This paper proposes an automatic driving system based on a combination of modular neural networks processing human driving data. Research on automatic driving vehicles has been actively conducted in recent years. Machine learning techniques are often utilized to realize an automatic driving system capable of imitating human driving operations. Almost all of them adopt a large monolithic learning module, as typified by deep learning. However, it is inefficient to use a monolithic deep learning module to learn human driving operations (accelerating, braking, and steering) using the visual information obtained from a human driving a vehicle. We propose combining a series of modular neural networks that independently learn visual feature quantities, routes, and driving maneuvers from human driving data, thereby imitating human driving operations and efficiently learning a plurality of routes. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method through experiments using a small vehicle.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-80
Author(s):  
Arunita Kundaliya ◽  
D.K. Lobiyal

In resource constraint Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), enhancement of network lifetime has been one of the significantly challenging issues for the researchers. Researchers have been exploiting machine learning techniques, in particular reinforcement learning, to achieve efficient solutions in the domain of WSN. The objective of this paper is to apply Q-learning, a reinforcement learning technique, to enhance the lifetime of the network, by developing distributed routing protocols. Q-learning is an attractive choice for routing due to its low computational requirements and additional memory demands. To facilitate an agent running at each node to take an optimal action, the approach considers node’s residual energy, hop length to sink and transmission power. The parameters, residual energy and hop length, are used to calculate the Q-value, which in turn is used to decide the optimal next-hop for routing. The proposed protocols’ performance is evaluated through NS3 simulations, and compared with AODV protocol in terms of network lifetime, throughput and end-to-end delay.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro Vian ◽  
Marcelo De Gomensoro Malheiros

In recent years Machine Learning techniques have become the driving force behind the worldwide emergence of Artificial Intelligence, producing cost-effective and precise tools for pattern recognition and data analysis. A particular approach for the training of neural networks, Reinforcement Learning (RL), achieved prominence creating almost unbeatable artificial opponents in board games like Chess or Go, and also on video games. This paper gives an overview of Reinforcement Learning and tests this approach against a very popular real-time strategy game, Starcraft II. Our goal is to examine the tools and algorithms readily available for RL, also addressing different scenarios where a neural network can be linked to Starcraft II to learn by itself. This work describes both the technical issues involved and the preliminary results obtained by the application of two specific training strategies, A2C and DQN.


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