Reflexive benign service attack on IoT device(s)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10771502-B2
Application number	US-202016802926-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2020
Priority date	Feb 23, 2018
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

A method is provided for preventing an IoT device within a trusted system from being harnessed in a malicious DDOS attack. The method may include bombarding the IoT device. The bombardment may originate from within the system, and may inundate the IoT device with harmless packets in a manner mimicking a traditional DOS attack. The inundating may utilize the resources of the IoT device to respond to the bombardment, and may thereby render the IoT device unavailable for fraudulent uses.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A partially secure, internet-connected system, comprising:
at least one Internet-of-Things (IoT) device;
said IoT device comprising a connection to the internet;
said connection to the internet comprising a gateway node;
said gateway node comprising hardware and/or software, and connected to said IoT device and the internet;
wherein an element of said system bombards the IoT device with communications packets in a manner mimicking a traditional Denial-Of-Service (DOS) attack;
said bombardment directing the IoT device's resources to responding to the bombardment, said bombardment further comprising a dynamic high-level mode of bombardment, said high-level bombardment being established dynamically based on a current IoT device functionality, wherein the system preserves an amount of resources necessary for the current IoT device functionality, said high-level bombardment fully utilizing the resources remaining above said amount of preserved resources, said dynamic high-level bombardment preventing the IoT device from sending any packets unnecessary for the current IoT device functionality, while maintaining the current device functionality; and
said directing of resources prevents the device from being harnessed in a malicious Distributed-Denial-Of-Service (DDOS) attack.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a high-level mode of bombardment, said high-level bombardment fully utilizing the IoT device's resources, such that the IoT device is prevented from sending even one maliciously-originated communications packet.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a low-level mode of bombardment, said low-level bombardment utilizing a percentage of the IoT device's resources, said percentage established to preserve a remaining amount of resources as available for use, said amount of resources sufficient to allow the IoT device to send a threshold number of communications packets per unit time, said low-level mode preventing the IoT device from sending more than the said threshold number of packets per unit time in a malicious DDOS attack.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a dynamic low-level mode of bombardment, said low-level bombardment being established dynamically based on a current IoT device functionality, wherein the system preserves a first amount of resources necessary for the current IoT device functionality, said low-level bombardment utilizing a percentage of the resources remaining above said first amount of preserved resources, said percentage established to preserve a second amount of the remaining resources as available for use, said second amount sufficient to send a threshold number of communications packets per unit time, said low-level mode preventing the IoT device from sending more than the said threshold number of packets per unit time in a malicious DDOS attack, while maintaining the current device functionality.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the level of bombardment is dynamically regulated to adjust in proportion to the instantaneous level of power available to the IoT device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein, when the system is communicating within a protected network, and the IoT device is secure from being compromised, the bombardment is toggled to an off configuration.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the gateway node is the element performing the bombardment on the IoT device.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the IoT device is the element performing the bombardment on itself.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising multiple IoT devices within a trusted network, wherein each IoT device is an element performing a bombardment on itself or on one or more fellow IoT devices within said trusted network.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the bombardment is only toggled to an on configuration when the IoT device is active with respect to its core functionality, at all other times the bombardment is toggled to an off configuration, and the IoT device is considered off-limits for all uses, thereby reducing the power consumption of the system.

11. A method of preventing an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device within a trusted system from being harnessed in a malicious Distributed-Denial-Of-Service (DDOS) attack, the method comprising:
bombarding the IoT device;
said bombardment originating from an element within the system;
said bombardment inundating the IoT device with harmless packets in a manner mimicking a traditional DOS attack, said bombardment further comprising a dynamic high-level mode of bombardment, said high-level bombardment being established dynamically based on a current IoT device functionality, wherein the system preserves the amount of resources necessary for the current IoT device functionality, said high-level bombardment fully utilizing the resources remaining above said amount of preserved resources, said dynamic high-level bombardment preventing the IoT device from sending any packets unnecessary for the current IoT device functionality, while maintaining the current device functionality; and
said inundating utilizing the resources of the IoT device to respond to said bombardment, thereby rendering the IoT device unavailable for fraudulent uses.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising dynamically adjusting the level of bombardment in a manner proportional to the instantaneous desired functionality of the IoT device, said functionality changing autonomously based on time or circumstance, or manually by an authenticated user request.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising establishing a dynamic low-level mode of bombardment, said establishing being dynamically based on a current IoT device functionality, said system preserving a first amount of resources necessary for the current IoT device functionality, said low-level bombardment utilizing a percentage of the resources remaining above said first amount of preserved resources, establishing said percentage to preserve a second amount of the remaining resources, said second amount sufficient to send a threshold number of communications packets per unit time, said low-level mode preventing the IoT device from sending more than the said threshold number of packets per unit time in a malicious MOS attack, while maintaining the current device functionality.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising dynamically adjusting the level of bombardment in a manner proportional to the instantaneous level of power available to the IoT device.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising toggling the bombardment to an off configuration when the system is communicating within a protected network, and the IoT device is secure from the threat of being compromised.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising toggling the bombardment to an on configuration, only when the IoT device is active with respect to its core functionality, at all other times toggling the bombardment to an off configuration, and considering the device off-limits for all uses, thereby reducing the power consumption of the system.

17. A partially secure, internet-connected system, comprising:
at least one Internet-of-Things (IoT) device that has sensor functionality to measure, record, and/or transmit data regarding its environment;
said IoT device comprising a connection to the internet;
said connection to the Internet comprising a gateway node; and
said gateway node comprising hardware and/or software, and connected to said IoT device and the internet;
wherein said gateway node broadcasts a message indicating that said IoT device is fully utilized, t

Assignees

• Bank Of America

Inventors

• Ogrinz Michael
• Hsiang David
• Checco John C

Classifications

• H04L63/1458 Primary

  Denial of Service · CPC title

• H04L2463/144

  Detection or countermeasures against botnets · CPC title

• H04L67/04

  specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title