Prevention of Cloning Attacks in a DOCSIS Network

摘要

A system and method are provided for preventing a cloned modem from completing the registration process with a communications network. A cable modem termination system (CMTS) compares the media access control (MAC) address of a modem attempting to register with the network with a list of cable modems that are currently registered. If the MAC address is already contained in the list, the CMTS examines communication characteristics associated with the modem to determine if the device attempting to register is a clone. Additionally, a network monitoring system may be used to monitor the MAC addresses contained in DHCP messages to determine if a modem is potentially a clone.