Active Networks: Applications and Security Issues

Active networks introduce a new concept to network architecture. Network nodes are capable of executing codes carried by packets which change their state. Active networks provide a flexible networking environment by their programming capabilities. Although active networks have benefitted networking largely, at the same time they pose many security threats due to their complexity. Since active networks have become famous because of programmability but it's increasing flexible nature opens doors to new security risks. Currently research is being conducted to find out the benefits of active networks over the traditional networks and also to cope up with the security risks that active networks pose. The paper focuses on the benefits of active network over the passive network. The objectives and applications of active networks are briefly discussed. The methodologies of deploying active networks are also mentioned. In the latter part the security issues raised by active networks are presented and methods to cope up with them are also briefly discussed.