Optical Intrusion Detection

[Aabid Baba]

Hello Everyone!
Here i wish to ask a few general questions , Firstly , i want to know that is it possible in Optisystem to represent an intruder intruding or eavesdropping any optical network ?
Secondly, if yes then what component in the optisystem library can be used to depict an intruder??
Responses and suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards

[aasif bashir dar]

hi aabid,

i guess there is no component in Optisystem to show an intruder intruding or eavesdropping any optical network.
but ofcourse i think you can model the design in such way that some of the wavelength can act intruder using couplers or power combiners.
still very important question for discussion.

with regards

[Aabid Baba]

can you please explain how some wavelengths can be used as intruder using power couplers and power combiner ?

[aasif bashir dar]

hi aabid,

first i was to clear there is no component in Optisystem to show an intruder intruding or eavesdropping any optical network.
second that i said that i guess we can model itit.

just tap the power using coupler or combine the power using combiner.

i guess gennerally aatack on any signal leads to increase in the power level of that perticular signal. hence you can detect these signal which are attacked

with regards

[Aabid Baba]

Hi asif,
Can you please be precise. What i inferred from your statement above is that you are saying we can tap the power.please can you explain how is it possible to tap the power?? i have never come across such thing like tapping power..Instead fiber cable can be tapped.
Also i want to ask you how can we say that any security attack leads to increase in power level.??

Regards

[Aabid Baba]

Hi asif,
you left me in a doubt can you please explain how power levels can be tapped? I googled about it but couldn’t find anything regarding tapping of power levels in any system be it wireless or an optical network. I find it very strange though. Please can you make your point more clear because you said so.. ?

Regards

[ZULKARNAIN]

Hi Aabid,
as already aasif told that there are no component in Optisystem to show an intruder intruding or eavesdropping any optical network, but
I guess you can detect an intrusion with the help of quantum cryptography in optisim.Quantum cryptography(QC)uses quantum channel to
exchange key securely and keeps unwanted parties or eavesdroppers from learning sensitive information. A technique called Quantum Key
Distribution (QKD) is used to share random secret key by encoding the information in quantum states.You can implement this technique by bb84-protocol.
For your reference i am attaching the link for the above mentioned implementation.

Implementation of noise immune QKD using bb84 protocol in time division multiplexing – passive optical networks from Auricle Technologies Pvt. Ltd

[Aabid Baba]

Hi Zulkarnain,
thanks for the reply. First of all i would like to tell you that this paper is about quantum key distribution systems which is not my requirement and secondly the tool the author has used is Optisim . I have not heard about the tool. Can you tell me if there is any provision to represent it in Optisystem only ??
Regards

[aasif bashir dar]

hi aabid,
tapping means either you draw some power or add some power into the channel at some ponit in channel at some frequency or wavelength.

you can draw some power using coupler
and add some using power combiners

how so ever you motive is to model intrusion in ofc link.
i guess you that by the same componernts

with regards

[Aabid Baba]

hi Asif,
Thanks for the response. Now i got your point. But i would like to tell you that tapping is widely and largely used for fiber links and is somehow related to inserting or collecting signal from the optical links which eventually contain our information. Power is used for transmitting signal to some distances. There can be power losses during transmission but it is not appropriate to use term power tapping. Hope you understood my point.

Regards

[aasif bashir dar]

hi aabids
you are welcome
terms may vary based on there usage , but logic remains the same.
i am happy that you got my point.
but i guess there is no special component in optisystem for for tapping.you have to model it your self you other passive components in optisystem.
with regards

[Aabid Baba]

Hi asif,
That is true but here tapping is specifically used for fibers only. I have come across many papers so i believe tapping is about fiber only in optical networks.
Anyways, thanks for the suggestion and i would look to it and i guess i may have turn to other software if it is not possible here.

regards

[aasif bashir dar]

hi aabid
yeah we use term tap for fiber gennerally.
you are welcome

with regards

[alistu]

Hi Aabid,

Unfortunately I cannot help much with this issue, but would just like to ask if you have any particular paper in mind that you would like to reproduce the results of, using OptiSystem. This way I can get some background and may be able to provide more efficient help if possible.

Regards

[Aabid Baba]

Hi Alistu,
As far as papers are concerned i did not find any paper in optical networks that has implemented anything like that. Actually very less work has been done as far as optical security is concerned. I find more of theoretical papers mentioning about different types of attacks that can happen in optical networks but i didn’t find one that has shown it by implementing it in Practical scenario.
Very kind of you. Thanks a lot.
Regards

[alistu]

One reason for what you mentioned may be the fact that eavesdropping could be happening more with software rather than hardware. As you know, for example security in TDMA is very low and therefore, always codes are used to increase security. Sometimes all that is needed for eavesdropping in physical network is a simple access to the signal which can easily be provided using power splitter. The rest is breaking the codes.

Regards

[Aabid Baba]

Hi Alistu,
Absolutely and you are kind of right here. What i have learned by going through the papers on All optical network is that there they use combiners to transmit data and splitters to receive data. So, i am thinking why don’t i try to use circulator or combiner here which could serve my purpose.
One more thing if i take another transmitter as intruder , would i be right??

[alistu]

it really depends on the type of access scheme adopted for your system. For example, For TDMA I believe if access to ONU is provided for the eavesdropper, since TDMA uses power splitter, the signal contains information from all the other users as well. Unless some extra coding scheme has been adopted (which it is adopted in almost all cases), you won’t even need to crack the code.

[Aabid Baba]

Hi Alistu,
You are right about the access scheme adopted for our system but think this way that i am transmitting data in optical network and in optical network our data is modulated on light so if anyhow the attacker gets access to some component where he can make sure he can insert a malicious signal into the light stream or is able to receive the light pulses he can can get the information. So keeping this insertion and reception in mind can you suggest a component. For reception i guess splitter will help me. Now i want a component that could help me in insertion of light into the system.

Regards

[alistu]

If power splitter is an acceptable component for your purpose of eavesdropping, then I guess power combiner can definitely be used in your system architecture. However, as I mentioned, it depends on the scheme. So maybe in another network with a different scheme, MUX and DEMUX can be used instead.

Regards

[aasif bashir dar]

hi all,
we gennerally use Optical Power Monitor (OPM),Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR),Optical Test Access Unit (OTAU) for monitoring the fiber link. CAN thses be used for intrusion detection???

with regards

[Aabid Baba]

Hi Asif,
Thanks a lot for your suggestions i appreciate it.
Actually These are the power level monitoring methods. They have their own implications in the optical networks. What i am actually looking for an idea to represent an intruder in optical network in Optisystem itself. I want to implement it on this tool only and i need help and suggestions to do it.

Regards

[aasif bashir dar]

hi aabid

you are welcome,
i have read it some were that Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) may be used as the intrusion detection apart from the faults in the fibr link or other channel impairments.

with regards

[Aabid Baba]

Hello asif,
It is true. Optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) is used to detect faults in optical fiber link. To some extent it can be used to detect a security threat but not always. If you go through the operation of the OTDR you will see it is much more effective if attacker gains access to fiber.Anyway, These are theoretical aspects but i want to develop a system using Optisystem.
Regards

[aasif bashir dar]

thanks aabid for your clarification.

[Aabid Baba]

you are welcome asif!

[Naazira Badar]

Hi Aabid..
Well Optical Intrusion Detection seems to be a very interesting area. Very less importance is given to security aspect in the field of Optical Communication. It is great if you wish to work on it.
And as far as simulating it is concerned, I don’t think you would find straightforward blocks for it in Optisystem. You might have to simulate the concept using existing general components/blocks here.

Cheers. Regards.

[Aabid Baba]

Hi naazira,
Thanks for the reply. You are right it is an area in optical communication which is not being given enough importance right now because all we are concerned about right now is HIGH DATA rates.
Anyways you are right i may have to use existing components present in the library for the implementation aspect of my design. I hope i get suggestions that can help me.
Regards

[Naazira Badar]

Hi Aabid..
yeah definitely. But given the fact that optics is used in even computing, like we have optical computers waiting to be evolved and commercialized, security is a a very important aspect. Our data has to be protected from unauthorized access.
Cheers.

Regards.

[Aabid Baba]

hello naazira,
You are right security is very important in each and every aspect of communication. More importance is being given to increasing data rates and reducing cost of design but very less is being done in the field of security as far as optical networks are concerned. It is definitely one of favorite research interests.
Thanks for discussing things.
Regards

[Naazira Badar]

Hi Aabid..
you are right.
Welcome.

Regards.

[Aabid Baba]

hi naazira! My Pleasure ..

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