Correlating endpoint and network views to identify evasive applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10735441-B2
Application number	US-201715848150-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2017
Priority date	Dec 20, 2017
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

In one embodiment, a service receives traffic telemetry data regarding encrypted traffic sent by an endpoint device in a network. The service analyzes the traffic telemetry data to infer characteristics of an application on the endpoint device that generated the encrypted traffic. The service receives, from a monitoring agent on the endpoint device, application telemetry data regarding the application. The service determines that the application is evasive malware based on the characteristics of the application inferred from the traffic telemetry data and on the application telemetry data received from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device. The service initiates performance of a mitigation action in the network, after determining that the application on the endpoint device is evasive malware.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a service, traffic telemetry data regarding encrypted traffic sent by an endpoint device in a network;
analyzing, by the service, the traffic telemetry data to infer characteristics of an application on the endpoint device that generated the encrypted traffic by inferring an identity of the application from the received traffic telemetry data, wherein the traffic telemetry data is indicative of one or more of: a user agent parameter of the encrypted traffic, a ciphersuite offered by the endpoint device, or a Transport Layer Security (TLS) extension used by the encrypted traffic;
receiving, at the service and from a monitoring agent on the endpoint device, application telemetry data regarding the application;
determining, by the service, that the application is evasive malware based on the characteristics of the application inferred from the traffic telemetry data and on the application telemetry data received from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, wherein the determining step comprises: determining an identity of the application based on the application telemetry data received from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, and comparing the determined identity of the application from the application telemetry data to the identity of the application inferred from the traffic telemetry data; and
initiating, by the service, performance of a mitigation action in the network, after determining that the application on the endpoint device is evasive malware.

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the mitigation action comprises at least one of: blocking the encrypted traffic or generating an alert regarding the endpoint device.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the application telemetry data comprises a process hash fingerprint of the application.

4. The method as in claim 1 , wherein receiving, from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, the application telemetry data regarding the application comprises: sending, by the service, a request to the monitoring agent for the application telemetry data; and receiving, at the service, the application telemetry data, in response to the sent request.

5. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the traffic telemetry data comprises an Internet Protocol Flow Information Export (IPFIX) record or a Netflow record.

6. An apparatus, comprising:
one or more network interfaces to communicate with a network;
a processor coupled to the network interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes; and
a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed configured to:
receive traffic telemetry data regarding encrypted traffic sent by an endpoint device in a network;
analyze the traffic telemetry data to infer characteristics of an application on the endpoint device that generated the encrypted traffic by inferring an identity of the application from the received traffic telemetry data, wherein the traffic telemetry data is indicative of one or more of: a user agent parameter of the encrypted traffic, a ciphersuite offered by the endpoint device, or a Transport Layer Security (TLS) extension used by the encrypted traffic;
receive, from a monitoring agent on the endpoint device, application telemetry data regarding the application;
determine that the application is evasive malware based on the characteristics of the application inferred from the traffic telemetry data and on the application telemetry data received from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, wherein the determining step comprises determining an identity of the application based on the application telemetry data received from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, and comparing the determined identity of the application from the application telemetry data to the identity of the application inferred from the traffic telemetry data; and
initiate performance of a mitigation action in the network, after determining that the application on the endpoint device is evasive malware.

7. The apparatus as in claim 6 , wherein the mitigation action comprises at least one of: blocking the encrypted traffic or generating an alert regarding the endpoint device.

8. The apparatus as in claim 6 , wherein the application telemetry data comprises a process hash fingerprint of the application.

9. The apparatus as in claim 6 , wherein the apparatus receives, from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, the application telemetry data regarding the application by: sending a request to the monitoring agent for the application telemetry data; and receiving the application telemetry data, in response to the sent request.

10. The apparatus as in claim 6 , wherein the traffic telemetry data comprises an Internet Protocol Flow Information Export (IPFIX) record or a Netflow record.

11. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing program instructions that cause a service to execute a process comprising:
receiving, at the service, traffic telemetry data regarding encrypted traffic sent by an endpoint device in a network;
analyzing, by the service, the traffic telemetry data to infer characteristics of an application on the endpoint device that generated the encrypted traffic by inferring an identity of the application from the received traffic telemetry data, wherein the traffic telemetry data is indicative of one or more of: a user agent parameter of the encrypted traffic, a ciphersuite offered by the endpoint device, or a Transport Layer Security (TLS) extension used by the encrypted traffic;
receiving, at the service and from a monitoring agent on the endpoint device, application telemetry data regarding the application;
determining, by the service, that the application is evasive malware based on the characteristics of the application inferred from the traffic telemetry data and on the application telemetry data received from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, wherein the determining step comprises determining an identity of the application based on the application telemetry data received from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, and comparing the determined identity of the application from the application telemetry data to the identity of the application inferred from the traffic telemetry data; and
initiating, by the service, performance of a mitigation action in the network, after determining that the application on the endpoint device is evasive malware.

12. The computer-readable medium as in claim 11 , wherein the mitigation action comprises at least one of: blocking the encrypted traffic or generating an alert regarding the endpoint device.

13. The computer-readable medium as in claim 11 , wherein the application telemetry data comprises a process hash fingerprint of the application.

14. The computer-readable medium as in claim 11 , wherein receiving, from the monitoring agent on the endpoint device, the application telemetry data regarding the application comprises: sending, by the service, a request to the monitoring agent for the application telemetry data; and receiving, at the service, the application telemetry data, in response to the sent request.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Anderson Blake Harrell
• Mcgrew David
• Parla Vincent E
• Jusko Jan
• Grill Martin
• Vejman Martin

Classifications

• G06F21/55

  Detecting local intrusion or implementing counter-measures · CPC title

• G06F21/52

  during program execution, e.g. stack integrity {; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow} · CPC title

• H04L63/0876

  based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint · CPC title

• H04L9/3242

  involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC · CPC title

• H04L63/1425

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