Server drift monitoring
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- configuring a plurality of servers in a group of similarly configured servers with one or more executables in a known configuration, each one of the plurality of servers configured to provide services across a network to remote clients;
instrumenting each of the plurality of servers to detect changes in a number of network connections by the plurality of servers, and to periodically or continuously provide updates with information about the changes;
receiving the changes in the number of network connections at a threat management facility for an enterprise network that includes the plurality of servers;
detecting a drift in a first one of the plurality of servers, the drift including a deviation of the changes in the number of network connections by the first one of the plurality of servers relative to the changes in the number of network connections by other ones of the plurality of servers, wherein detecting includes detecting by a number of classes of changes each specifying an actor initiating one of the changes; and
initiating a remedial action when the drift in the first one of the plurality of servers deviates beyond a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is a different threshold for each of the number of classes of changes.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Threat detection is improved by monitoring variations in observable events and correlating these variations to malicious activity. The disclosed techniques can be usefully employed with any attribute or other metric that can be instrumented on an endpoint and tracked over time including observable events such as changes to files, data, software configurations, operating systems, and so forth. Correlations may be based on historical data for a particular machine, or a group of machines such as similarly configured endpoints. Similar inferences of malicious activity can be based on the nature of a variation, including specific patterns of variation known to be associated with malware and any other unexpected patterns that deviate from normal behavior. Embodiments described herein use variations in, e.g., server software updates or URL cache hits on an endpoint, but the techniques are more generally applicable to any endpoint attribute that varies in a manner correlated with malicious activity.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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configuring a plurality of servers in a group of similarly configured servers with one or more executables in a known configuration, each one of the plurality of servers configured to provide services across a network to remote clients; instrumenting each of the plurality of servers to detect changes in a number of network connections by the plurality of servers, and to periodically or continuously provide updates with information about the changes; receiving the changes in the number of network connections at a threat management facility for an enterprise network that includes the plurality of servers; detecting a drift in a first one of the plurality of servers, the drift including a deviation of the changes in the number of network connections by the first one of the plurality of servers relative to the changes in the number of network connections by other ones of the plurality of servers, wherein detecting includes detecting by a number of classes of changes each specifying an actor initiating one of the changes; and initiating a remedial action when the drift in the first one of the plurality of servers deviates beyond a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is a different threshold for each of the number of classes of changes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. 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:
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configuring a plurality of servers in a group of similarly configured servers with one or more executables in a known configuration, each one of the plurality of servers configured to provide services across a network to remote clients; instrumenting each of the plurality of servers to detect changes in a volume of network connections by the plurality of servers, and to periodically or continuously update a database with information about the changes; receiving the changes in the volume of network connections at a threat management facility for an enterprise network that includes the plurality of servers; detecting a drift in a first one of the plurality of servers, the drift including a deviation of the changes in the volume of network connections by the first one of the plurality of servers relative to the changes in the volume of network connections by other ones of the plurality of servers, wherein detecting includes detecting by a number of classes of changes; and initiating a remedial action when the drift in the first one of the plurality of servers deviates beyond a predetermined threshold, wherein the predetermined threshold is a different threshold for each of the number of classes of changes. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system comprising:
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a server farm including a plurality of similarly configured servers with one or more executables in a known configuration, each one of the plurality of servers configured to provide services across a network to remote clients, and each one of the plurality of servers including a processor and associated memory, the memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, detect a local drift including a change in a number of network connections by the respective one of the plurality of servers; and a threat management facility coupled in a communicating relationship with each one of the plurality of servers, the threat management facility including a processor and associated memory, the memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, monitor periodic or continuous updates of local drift corresponding to each one of the plurality of servers, to detect a deviation of the local drift in a first one of the plurality of servers relative to the local drift in other ones of the plurality of servers, and to initiate a remedial action when the deviation in the local drift in the first one of the plurality of servers exceeds a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification