Secure unicast address resolution protocol (S-UARP) by extending DHCP

In IPv4 networks, address resolution protocol (ARP) is used when a source computer wants to find the MAC address corresponding to a particular IP address (of target computer), it wants to contact. The source broadcasts this request and all the hosts in the domain get that request. This broadcast helps the target to reply with the necessary details to the source. The IP-MAC mapping would then be stored in the ARP cache of the source, which remains valid for some time. This broadcasting is a decentralized way to get the IP address to MAC address mapping, which brings in consistent overhead to the network traffic. It is well documented that ARP process is also liable to ARP poisoning attacks. In this paper we seek to propose a secure unicast address resolution protocol (SUARP) which takes a centralized approach that reduces the broadcast overhead and makes ARP poisoning attacks difficult.