Security threat detection of newly registered domains

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9248068-B2
Application number	US-201414445023-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2014
Priority date	Jul 25, 2013
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Domain names are determined for each computational event in a set, each event detailing requests or posts of webpages. A number of events or accesses associated with each domain name within a time period is determined. A registrar is further queried to determine when the domain name was registered. An object is generated that includes a representation of the access count and an age since registration for each domain names. A client can interact with the object to explore representations of domain names associated with high access counts and recent registrations. Upon determining that a given domain name is suspicious, a rule can be generated to block access to the domain name.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
extracting a set of accessed domain names from a set of events by applying a late binding schema to the set of events;
identifying a respective registration time for each accessed domain name in the set of accessed domain names, wherein the respective registration time is indicative of when the accessed domain name was registered with a registrar or when the accessed domain name was first detected within the set of events;
identifying a subset of accessed domain names in the set of accessed domain names for which the identified respective registration time of each accessed domain name in the subset is recent relative to times for other accessed domain names in the set of accessed domain names;
determining, for each accessed domain name in the subset, an access count corresponding to how many times the set of events indicates that the accessed domain name in the subset was accessed;
causing display of information relating to the access count;
wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a communication corresponding to an indication as to when each accessed domain name in the subset was registered with a registrar;
wherein the respective registration time is identified based on the communication.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the accessed domain name had not been detected in events generated prior to generation of the set of events;
wherein the respective registration time is identified based on a time of generation of an event in the set of events that includes the accessed domain name or based on a time included in one or more events in the set of events that includes the accessed domain name.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective registration time comprises an age from a first time when the accessed domain name was registered with the registrar to a current time.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the display of information comprises at least one of: a graph, a scatter plot, a table, or a message.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective registration time is identified based on a communication received from Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a second subset of the set of accessed domain names, wherein a respective registration time for each accessed domain name in the second subset of accessed domain names is within a defined time period, and wherein the second subset includes at least two accessed domain names;
determining, for each accessed domain name in the second subset, a respective access count corresponding to how many times the set of events indicates that each accessed domain name in the second subset was accessed;
causing display of simultaneous representations of the respective registration time and the respective access count for each accessed domain name in the second subset.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an input corresponding to a selection of a particular identified accessed domain name;
presenting additional detail pertaining to events in the set of events that included the particular identified accessed domain name.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a second subset of the set of accessed domain names, wherein a respective registration time for each accessed domain name in the second subset of accessed domain names is within a defined time period, and wherein the second subset includes at least two accessed domain names;
determining, for each accessed domain name in the second subset, a respective access count that represents how many times the set of events indicates that the accessed domain name in the second subset was accessed.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the access count for a particular accessed domain name in the subset exceeds a threshold number; and
causing access to the particular accessed domain name in the subset to be blocked.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein an event in the set of events includes unstructured data.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein an event in the set of events includes machine data.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein an event in the set of events includes structured data.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein each accessed domain name in the set of accessed domain names corresponds to an accessed Web page.

15. An apparatus, comprising:
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that extracts a set of accessed domain names from a set of events by applying a late binding schema to the set of events;
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that identifies a respective registration time for each accessed domain name in the set of accessed domain names, wherein the respective registration time is indicative of when the accessed domain name was registered with a registrar or when the accessed domain name was first detected within the set of events;
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that identifies a subset of accessed domain names in the set of accessed domain names for which the identified respective registration time of each accessed domain name in the subset is recent relative to times for other accessed domain names in the set of accessed domain names;
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that determines, for each accessed domain name in the subset, an access count corresponding to how many times the set of events indicates that the accessed domain name in the subset was accessed;
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that causes display of information relating to the access count.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that receives a communication corresponding to an indication as to when the accessed domain name in the subset was registered with a registrar;
wherein the respective registration time is identified based on the communication.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the respective registration time comprises an age from a first time when the accessed domain name was registered with the registrar to a current time.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the display of information comprises at least one of: a graph, a scatter plot, a table, or a message.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that identifies a second subset of the set of accessed domain names, wherein a respective registration time for each accessed domain name in the second subset of accessed domain names is within a defined time period, and wherein the second subset includes at least two accessed domain names;
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that determines, for each accessed domain name in the second subset, a respective access count corresponding to how many times the set of events indicates that each accessed domain name in the second subset was accessed;
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that causes display of simultaneous representations of the respective registration time and the respective access count for each accessed domain name in the second subset.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
a subsystem, implemented at least partially in hardware, that receives an input corresponding to a selection o

Assignees

• Splunk Inc

Inventors

• Merza Munawar Monzy

Classifications

• A61G17/042

  Linings and veneer · CPC title

• A61G17/044

  Corpse supports · CPC title

• A61G17/041

  Handles · CPC title

• H04L63/1416

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

• H04L63/10

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title