System and method of assigning reputation scores to hosts

• US 10,243,817 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2016
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Sunil Kumar, Yadav, Navindra, Watts, Michael Standish, Parandehgheibi, Ali, Gandham, Shashidhar, Kulshreshtha, Ashutosh, Deen, Khawar
• Primary Examiner(s): Shehni, Ghazal B
• Application Number:
  US15/171,580
• Publication Number:
  US 20160359888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
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Abstract

A method provides for receiving network traffic from a host having a host IP address and operating in a data center, and analyzing a malware tracker for IP addresses of hosts having been infected by a malware to yield an analysis. When the analysis indicates that the host IP address has been used to communicate with an external host infected by the malware to yield an indication, the method includes assigning a reputation score, based on the indication, to the host. The method can further include applying a conditional policy associated with using the host based on the reputation score. The reputation score can include a reduced reputation score from a previous reputation score for the host.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving network traffic from a host having a host IP address and operating in a data center, wherein data associated with the network traffic is received from at least a first capture agent at a device hardware layer of the data center, a second capture agent at a hypervisor layer of the data center, and a third capture agent at a virtual machine layer of the data center;

analyzing a malware tracker for IP addresses of hosts having been infected by a malware to yield an analysis;

when the analysis indicates that the host IP address has been used to communicate with an external host infected by the malware to yield an indication, assigning a reputation score, based on the indication, to the host, the reputation score including a communication policy based on the reputation score; and

analyzing an effectiveness of the communication policy based on communications with the host.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication policy is a conditional communication policy associated with using the host.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reputation score is a reduced reputation score from a previous reputation score for the host.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing of the effectiveness of the communication policy includes capturing data from packet flows, analyzing the packet flows, and determining an action based on the analyzing of the packet flows.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

separating malicious and non-malicious behavior based on the indication.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the malware tracker further comprises crawling multiple malware trackers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the reputation score is further based on data associated with the host and received from a whois database.

8. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving network traffic from a host having a host IP address and operating in a data center, wherein data associated with the network traffic is received from at least a first capture agent at a device hardware layer of the data center, a second capture agent at a hypervisor layer of the data center, and a third capture agent at a virtual machine layer of the data center;

analyzing a malware tracker for IP addresses of hosts having been infected by a malware to yield an analysis; and

when the analysis indicates that the host IP address has been used to communicate with an external host infected by the malware to yield an indication, assigning a reputation score, based on the indication, to the host, the reputation score including a communication policy based on the reputation score; and

analyzing an effectiveness of the communication policy based on communications with the host.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the communication policy is a conditional communication policy associated with using the host.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the reputation score is a reduced reputation score from a previous reputation score for the host.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the analyzing of the effectiveness of the communication policy includes capturing data from packet flows, analyzing the packet flows, and determining an action based on the analyzing of the packet flows.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

separating malicious and non-malicious behavior based on the indication.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein analyzing the malware tracker further comprises crawling multiple malware trackers.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein assigning the reputation score is further based on data associated with the host and received from a whois database.

15. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving network traffic from a host having a host IP address and operating in a data center, wherein data associated with the network traffic is received from at least a first capture agent at a device hardware layer of the data center, a second capture agent at a hypervisor layer of the data center, and a third capture agent at a virtual machine layer of the data center;

analyzing a malware tracker for IP addresses of hosts having been infected by a malware to yield an analysis; and

when the analysis indicates that the host IP address has been used to communicate with an external host infected by the malware to yield an indication, assigning a reputation score, based on the indication, to the host, the reputation score including a communication policy based on the reputation score; and

analyzing an effectiveness of the communication policy based on communications with the host.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the communication policy is a conditional communication policy associated with using the host.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the reputation score is a reduced reputation score from a previous reputation score for the host.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the analyzing of the effectiveness of the communication policy includes capturing data from packet flows, analyzing the packet flows, and determining an action based on the analyzing of the packet flows.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable storage device stores further instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising further comprising:

separating malicious and non-malicious behavior based on the indication.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein analyzing the malware tracker further comprises crawling multiple malware trackers.