Real-time distributed malicious traffic monitoring for honeypots and network telescopes
- Authors: Hunter, Samuel O , Irwin, Barry V W , Stalmans, Etienne
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429660 , vital:72630 , 10.1109/ISSA.2013.6641050
- Description: Network telescopes and honeypots have been used with great success to record malicious network traffic for analysis, however, this is often done off-line well after the traffic was observed. This has left us with only a cursory understanding of malicious hosts and no knowledge of the software they run, uptime or other malicious activity they may have participated in. This work covers a messaging framework (rDSN) that was developed to allow for the real-time analysis of malicious traffic. This data was captured from multiple, distributed honeypots and network telescopes. Data was collected over a period of two months from these data sensors. Using this data new techniques for malicious host analysis and re-identification in dynamic IP address space were explored. An Automated Reconnaissance (AR) Framework was developed to aid the process of data collection, this framework was responsible for gathering information from malicious hosts through both passive and active fingerprinting techniques. From the analysis of this data; correlations between malicious hosts were identified based on characteristics such as Operating System, targeted service, location and services running on the malicious hosts. An initial investigation in Latency Based Multilateration (LBM), a novel technique to assist in host re-identification was tested and proved successful as a supporting metric for host re-identification.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
An Exploratory Framework for Extrusion Detection
- Authors: Stalmans, Etienne , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428027 , vital:72481 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/327622736_An_Exploratory_Framework_for_Extrusion_Detection/links/5b9a12ba299bf14ad4d6a3d7/An-Exploratory-Framework-for-Extrusion-Detection.pdf
- Description: Modern network architecture allows multiple connectivity options, increasing the number of possible attack vectors. With the number of internet enabled devices constantly increasing, along with employees using these devices to access internal corporate networks, the attack surface has become too large to monitor from a single end-point. Traditional security measures have focused on securing a small number of network endpoints, by monitoring inbound con-nections and are thus blind to attack vectors such as mobile internet connections and remova-ble devices. Once an attacker has gained access to a network they are able to operate unde-tected on the internal network and exfiltrate data without hindrance. This paper proposes a framework for extrusion detection, where internal network traffic and outbound connections are monitored to detect malicious activity. The proposed framework has a tiered architecture con-sisting of prevention, detection, reaction and reporting. Each tier of the framework feeds into the subsequent tier with reporting providing a feedback mechanism to improve each tier based on the outcome of previous incidents.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Geo-spatial autocorrelation as a metric for the detection of fast-flux botnet domains
- Authors: Stalmans, Etienne , Hunter, Samuel O , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429799 , vital:72640 , 10.1109/ISSA.2012.6320433
- Description: Botnets consist of thousands of hosts infected with malware. Botnet owners communicate with these hosts using Command and Control (C2) servers. These C2 servers are usually infected hosts which the botnet owners do not have physical access to. For this reason botnets can be shut down by taking over or blocking the C2 servers. Botnet owners have employed numerous shutdown avoidance techniques. One of these techniques, DNS Fast-Flux, relies on rapidly changing address records. The addresses returned by the Fast-Flux DNS servers consist of geographically widely distributed hosts. The distributed nature of Fast-Flux botnets differs from legitimate domains, which tend to have geographically clustered server locations. This paper examines the use of spatial autocorrelation techniques based on the geographic distribution of domain servers to detect Fast-Flux domains. Moran's I and Geary's C are used to produce classifiers using multiple geographic co-ordinate systems to produce efficient and accurate results. It is shown how Fast-Flux domains can be detected reliably while only a small percentage of false positives are produced.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Remote fingerprinting and multisensor data fusion
- Authors: Hunter, Samuel O , Stalmans, Etienne , Irwin, Barry V W , Richter, John
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429813 , vital:72641 , 10.1109/ISSA.2012.6320449
- Description: Network fingerprinting is the technique by which a device or service is enumerated in order to determine the hardware, software or application characteristics of a targeted attribute. Although fingerprinting can be achieved by a variety of means, the most common technique is the extraction of characteristics from an entity and the correlation thereof against known signatures for verification. In this paper we identify multiple host-defining metrics and propose a process of unique host tracking through the use of two novel fingerprinting techniques. We then illustrate the application of host fingerprinting and tracking for increasing situational awareness of potentially malicious hosts. In order to achieve this we provide an outline of an adapted multisensor data fusion model with the goal of increasing situational awareness through observation of unsolicited network traffic.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
A framework for DNS based detection and mitigation of malware infections on a network
- Authors: Stalmans, Etienne , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429827 , vital:72642 , 10.1109/ISSA.2011.6027531
- Description: Modern botnet trends have lead to the use of IP and domain fast-fluxing to avoid detection and increase resilience. These techniques bypass traditional detection systems such as blacklists and intrusion detection systems. The Domain Name Service (DNS) is one of the most prevalent protocols on modern networks and is essential for the correct operation of many network activities, including botnet activity. For this reason DNS forms the ideal candidate for monitoring, detecting and mit-igating botnet activity. In this paper a system placed at the network edge is developed with the capability to detect fast-flux domains using DNS queries. Multiple domain features were examined to determine which would be most effective in the classification of domains. This is achieved using a C5.0 decision tree classifier and Bayesian statistics, with positive samples being labeled as potentially malicious and nega-tive samples as legitimate domains. The system detects malicious do-main names with a high degree of accuracy, minimising the need for blacklists. Statistical methods, namely Naive Bayesian, Bayesian, Total Variation distance and Probability distribution are applied to detect mali-cious domain names. The detection techniques are tested against sample traffic and it is shown that malicious traffic can be detected with low false positive rates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
A Framework for DNS Based Detection of Botnets at the ISP Level
- Authors: Stalmans, Etienne , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/427984 , vital:72478 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/327622932_A_Framework_for_DNS_Based_Detection_of_Botnets_at_the_ISP_Level/links/5b9a14e1458515310583fc19/A-Framework-for-DNS-Based-Detection-of-Botnets-at-the-ISP-Level.pdf
- Description: The rapid expansion of networks and increase in internet connected devices has lead to a large number of hosts susceptible to virus infec-tion. Infected hosts are controlled by attackers and form so called bot-nets. These botnets are used to steal data, mask malicious activity and perform distributed denial of service attacks. Traditional protection mechanisms rely on host based detection of viruses. These systems are failing due to the rapid increase in the number of vulnerable hosts and attacks that easily bypass detection mechanisms. This paper pro-poses moving protection from the individual hosts to the Internet Ser-vice Provider (ISP), allowing for the detection and prevention of botnet traffic. DNS traffic inspection allows for the development of a lightweight and accurate classifier that has little or no effect on network perfor-mance. By preventing botnet activity at the ISP level, it is hoped that the threat of botnets can largely be mitigated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011