Identification of a DNS packet as malicious based on a value

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10686817-B2
Application number	US-201515754282-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2015
Priority date	Sep 21, 2015
Publication date	Jun 16, 2020
Grant date	Jun 16, 2020

Abstract

Examples determine a number of hosts, within an enterprise, which are resolving a particular domain. Based on the number of hosts within the enterprise resolving the particular domain, the examples identify whether the particular domain is benign.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method, executable by a computing device, the method comprising:
determining a number of hosts, within an enterprise, resolving a particular domain; and
identifying whether the particular domain is benign based on the number of hosts resolving the particular domain, wherein identifying whether the particular domain is benign based the number of hosts resolving the particular domain comprises:
identifying the domain as benign if the number of hosts resolving the particular domain is above a threshold; and
identifying the domain as malicious if the number of hosts resolving the particular domain is below the threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying whether the particular domain is benign based on the number of hosts resolving the particular domain comprises:
determining a number of resolutions corresponding to the particular domain; and
in response to the identified number of hosts and the identified number of resolutions, identifying whether the particular domain is benign.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein a higher number of resolutions indicates that the particular domain is benign.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein determining the number of resolutions corresponding to the particular domain comprises:
determining an aggregate number of domain name system (DNS) packets resolving the particular domain over a period of time.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising:
discarding a domain name system (DNS) log associated with the particular domain in response to the identification of the particular domain as benign.

6. The method of claim 1 comprising:
in response to the identification the particular domain as benign, incorporating the particular domain name into a whitelist.

7. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processing resource cause a computing device to:
determine a number of hosts resolving a particular domain;
determine a number of resolutions corresponding to the particular domain; and
identify whether the particular domain is benign based on the number of hosts and the number of resolutions, wherein to identify whether the particular domain is benign based on the number of hosts and the number of resolutions comprises instructions that when executed by the processing resource causes the computing device to:
identify the particular domain as benign if the number of hosts and the number of resolutions are each above a threshold; and
identify the domain as malicious if the number of hosts or the number of resolutions are below the threshold.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 wherein to determine the number of resolutions corresponding to the particular domain comprises instructions that when executed by the processing resource causes the computing device to:
determine an aggregate number of domain name system (DNS) packets resolving the particular domain over a period of time.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 7 comprising instructions that when executed by the processing resource cause the computing device to:
discard DNS traffic log in response to the identification the particular domain is benign; and incorporate the particular domain into a whitelist.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein a higher number of hosts and a higher number of resolutions indicates the particular domain is benign.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 7 comprising instructions that when executed by the processing resource cause the computing device to:
in response to the identification the particular domain as benign, incorporating the particular domain name into a whitelist.

12. A networking system comprising: an appliance to:
process domain name system (DNS) traffic between a DNS server and hosts;
determine a number of hosts, within an enterprise, resolving a particular domain;
determine a number of resolutions corresponding to the particular domain; and identify whether the particular domain is benign based on the number of hosts and the number of resolutions, wherein to identify whether the particular domain is benign, the appliance is to:
identify the particular domain as benign if the number of hosts and the number of resolutions are above a threshold; and
identify the particular domain as malicious if the number of hosts or the number of resolutions are below the threshold.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising:
a domain name system (DNS) server to exchange DNS traffic with the number of hosts.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein a higher number of hosts and a higher number of resolutions indicates the particular domain is benign.

15. The system of claim 12 , the appliance to:
discard a domain name system (DNS) log associated with the particular domain in response to the identification of the particular domain as benign.

16. The system of claim 12 , the appliance to:
in response to the identification the particular domain as benign, incorporate the particular domain name into a whitelist.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Rao Prasad V
• Bhatt Sandeep N
• Horne William G
• Manadhata Pratyusa K
• Mowbray Miranda Jane Felicity

Classifications

• H04L61/4511 Primary

  using domain name system [DNS] · CPC title

• H04L63/1416

  Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection · CPC title

• H04L63/1425 Primary

  Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection · CPC title

• H04L63/0236

  Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL · CPC title

• H04L63/1441

  Countermeasures against malicious traffic (countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002) · CPC title