Key management for compromised enterprise endpoints

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9537841-B2
Application number	US-201414485774-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2014
Priority date	Sep 14, 2014
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

Threat detection instrumentation is simplified by providing and updating labels for computing objects in a context-sensitive manner. This may include simple labeling schemes to distinguish between objects, e.g., trusted/untrusted processes or corporate/private data. This may also include more granular labeling schemes such as a three-tiered scheme that identifies a category (e.g., financial, e-mail, game), static threat detection attributes (e.g., signatures, hashes, API calls), and explicit identification (e.g., what a file or process calls itself). By tracking such data for various computing objects and correlating these labels to malware occurrences, rules can be written for distribution to endpoints to facilitate threat detection based on, e.g., interactions of labeled objects, changes to object labels, and so forth. In this manner, threat detection based on complex interactions of computing objects can be characterized in a platform independent manner and pre-processed on endpoints without requiring significant communications overhead with a remote threat management facility.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
labeling objects on an endpoint with a labeling scheme in which the objects are either in, wherein the objects conform to a compliance policy administered for the endpoint from a remote threat management facility, or the objects are out, wherein the objects do not conform to the compliance policy, thereby providing a plurality of in objects and a plurality of out objects, the objects including at least one of processes, files, and data;
for in objects of the endpoint, providing access to encrypted files through a file system, with access to the encrypted files controlled by the file system using a key ring that is remotely managed;
detecting a compromise of the endpoint; and
in response to detecting the compromise, deleting key material cached on the endpoint from the key ring, thereby revoking access to the encrypted files by the endpoint.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the objects include a URL.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring at least one of the objects for compliance with the compliance policy.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein monitoring for compliance includes monitoring a behavior of the at least one of the objects.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the behavior includes an interaction with one or more other objects on the endpoint.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring at least one of the encrypted files for compliance with the compliance policy.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the compromise of the endpoint includes receiving an indication of compromise (IOC).

8. The method of claim 1 wherein an external monitoring facility detects the compromise of the endpoint.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the external monitoring facility sends a signal to the endpoint to set itself into a state of compromise when the compromise is detected.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein an internal monitoring facility on the endpoint detects the compromise of the endpoint.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the compromise of the endpoint includes receiving an IOC pattern from the endpoint indicative of a compromised state.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting the compromise of the endpoint is based on at least one of: behavioral analysis, malware signature analysis, reputation, and access to a remote command and control resource.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the compromise includes exposure of at least one of the plurality of in objects to an external object.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the external object includes at least one of: data, a URL, an external process, and an external file.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the external object is known or suspected to be malicious.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein a security status of the external object is unknown.

17. A computer program product comprising non-transitory computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:
labeling objects on an endpoint with a labeling scheme in which the objects are either in, wherein the objects conform to a compliance policy administered for the endpoint from a remote threat management facility, or the objects are out, wherein the objects do not conform to the compliance policy, thereby providing a plurality of in objects and a plurality of out objects, the objects including at least one of processes, files, and data;
for in objects of the endpoint, providing access to encrypted files through a file system, with access to the encrypted files controlled by the file system using a key ring that is remotely managed;
detecting a compromise of the endpoint; and
in response to detecting the compromise, deleting key material cached on the endpoint from the key ring, thereby revoking access to the encrypted files by the endpoint.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the code further performs the step of monitoring at least one of the objects for compliance with the compliance policy.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the compromise includes exposure of at least one of the plurality of in objects to an external object.

20. A system comprising:
a threat management facility configured to manage threats to an enterprise, the threat management facility maintaining a compliance policy for endpoints in the enterprise;
a key management system to remotely manage a key ring for cryptographic processing in the enterprise; and
an endpoint associated with the enterprise having a memory and a processor, the memory storing key material from the key ring and a plurality of objects including at least one of processes, files, and data, and the processor configured to label the objects with a labeling scheme in which the objects are either in, wherein the objects conform to the compliance policy, or the objects are out, wherein the objects do not conform to the compliance policy, thereby providing a plurality of in objects and a plurality of out objects, to provide in objects of the endpoint access to encrypted files through a file system, with access to the encrypted files controlled by the file system using the key material from the key ring, to detect a compromise of the endpoint, and in response to detecting the compromise, to delete the key material from the key ring cached in the memory on the endpoint, thereby revoking access to the encrypted files by the endpoint.

Assignees

• Sophos Ltd

Inventors

• Schütz Harald
• Thomas Andrew J
• Ray Kenneth D
• Schiappa Daniel Salvatore

Classifications

• G06F21/552

  involving long-term monitoring or reporting · CPC title

• H04L63/1408

  by monitoring network traffic (monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00) · CPC title

• G06F2221/034

  Test or assess a computer or a system · CPC title

• H04L9/0891 Primary

  Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying · CPC title

• G06F2221/2113

  Multi-level security, e.g. mandatory access control · CPC title