Testbed@TWISC: A network security experiment platform

As the internet continues to grow in width and depth, its very architecture brings many challenges in network research. One significant issue is cybersecurity. Owing to the characteristics of network connectivity, malicious actions may cause losses during information exchanges in communication. Therefore, studying suspicious behaviors and covering potential exploits are necessary to protect networked computers. To determine possible threats, researchers need an experimental environment that enables them to explore and practice. A network emulation testbed provides such a platform to fulfill these purposes. This paper introduces Testbed@TWISC, a large-scale network emulation testbed on Taiwan's research and education network that supported open research and cybersecurity education for almost 10 years. The paper reviews this testbed's origination, development, and operation experiences. Several findings and open issues of the testbed are also discussed. Readers who plan to build network security testbeds may find useful information in this paper for a case study.