SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ATTACK AND MALWARE PREVENTION

• US 20100100963A1
• Filed: 10/21/2008
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lookout Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Flexilis Incorporated (Lookout Incorporated)
• Inventors: MAHAFFEY, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,933 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/562 Static detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/564 by virus signature recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/034 Test or assess a computer or a system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

The present invention is a system and method for detecting and preventing attacks and malware on mobile devices such as a cell phones, smartphones or PDAs, which are significantly limited in power consumption, computational power, and memory. The invention enables mobile devices to analyze network data, executable data files, and non-executable data files in order to detect and prevent both known and unknown attacks and malware over vectors that are not typically protected by desktop and server security systems. Security analysis is performed by a combination of “known good,” “known bad,” and decision components. The invention identifies known good executables and/or known characteristics of network data or data files that must be present in order for the data to be considered good. Furthermore, known good and known bad identifier databases may be stored on a server which may be queried by a mobile device.

Claims

1. In a mobile communications device having a network interface for receiving and sending data, a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, and a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, a method comprising:

providing data on the mobile communications device;

applying a hash function to the data to create a hash identifier for the data; and

comparing by the known good component, the data hash identifier against a database of identifiers of known good data stored in the mobile communications device memory; and

if the comparison by the known good component results in a positive match, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the comparison by the known good component does not result in a positive match, then comparing by the known bad component, the data hash identifier against either a database of identifiers of known bad data stored in the mobile communications device memory, or against a database of known bad data signatures stored in the mobile communications device memory, or against a database of known bad data patterns stored in the mobile communications device memory; and

if the comparison by the known bad component results in a positive match, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

if the comparison by the known bad component does not result in a positive match, then using the decision component, performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious;

if the analysis determines that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device; and

if the analysis determines that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

4. In a mobile communications device having a network interface for receiving and sending data, a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, and a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, a method comprising:

providing data on the mobile communications device;

applying by the known good component, logic on the data to determine if the data is safe;

if the known good component logic determines that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device;

if the known good component does not determine that the data is safe, then applying by the known bad component, logic on the data to determine if the data is malicious; and

if the known bad component logic determines that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

using the decision component, performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious;

if the analysis shows that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device; and

if the analysis shows that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

6. In a mobile communications device having a network interface for receiving and sending data, a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, and a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, a method comprising:

providing data on the mobile communications device;

applying by the known good component, logic on the data to determine if the data is safe;

if the known good component logic determines that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device;

if the known good component logic does not determine that the data is safe, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

if the known good component logic does not determine that the data is safe, then applying by the known bad component, logic on the data to determine if the data is malicious; and

if the known bad component logic determines that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

using the decision component, performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious;

if the analysis determines that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device; and

if the analysis determines that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

9. In a server connected through a telecommunications network to receive data from and send data to a mobile communications device, the server having a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a method comprising:

by the server, receiving a hash identifier for data from the mobile communications device;

comparing, by the known good component, the data hash identifier against a database of identifiers of known good data stored in memory associated with the server; and

if the comparison by the known good component results in a positive match, then sending an instruction to the mobile communications device to allow the data to be processed by the mobile communications device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the server further includes a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, the method further comprising:

if the comparison by the known good component does not result in a positive match, then comparing by the known bad component, the data hash identifier against a database of identifiers of known bad data stored in memory associated with the server; and

if the comparison by the known bad component results in a positive match, then sending an instruction to the mobile communications to reject the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the server further includes a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, the method further comprising:

if the comparison by the known bad component does not result in a positive match, then receiving the data from the mobile communications device; and

using the decision component, performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious;

if the analysis determines that the data is safe, then sending an instruction to the mobile communications device to allow the data to be processed by the mobile communications device; and

if the analysis determines that the data is malicious, then sending an instruction to the mobile communications device to reject the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

12. In a server connected through a telecommunications network to receive and send data, having a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a method comprising:

receiving data at the server from the mobile communications device;

applying by the known good component, logic on the data to determine if the data is safe;

if the known good component logic determines that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device;

if the known good component logic does not determine that the data is safe, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the server further includes a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, the method further comprising:

if the known good component logic does not determine that the data is safe, then applying by the known bad component, logic on the data to determine if the data is malicious; and

if the known bad component logic determines that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the server further includes a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, the method further comprising:

using the decision component, performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious;

if the analysis shows that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device; and

if the analysis shows that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

15. A computer readable medium stored in a memory of a mobile communications device having a network interface for receiving and sending data, a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, and a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, the computer readable medium containing computer readable instructions comprising:

computer program code for comparing by the known good component, the data hash identifier against a database of identifiers of known good data stored in the mobile communications device memory;

computer program code for comparing by the known bad component, the data hash identifier against either a database of identifiers of known bad data stored in the mobile communications device memory, or against a database of known bad data signatures stored in the mobile communications device memory, or against a database of known bad data patterns stored in the mobile communications device memory; and

computer program code for performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious.

16. A computer readable medium stored in a server connected through a telecommunications network to receive and send data, having a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, and a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, the computer readable medium containing computer readable instructions comprising:

computer program code for comparing by the known good component, the data hash identifier against a database of identifiers of known good data stored in memory associated with the server;

computer program code for comparing by the known bad component, the data hash identifier against either a database of identifiers of known bad data stored in memory associated with the server, or against a database of known bad data signatures stored in memory associated with the server, or against a database of known bad data patterns stored in memory associated with the server; and

computer program code for performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious.

17. In a mobile communications device having a network interface for receiving and sending data, a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, and a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, a method comprising:

providing data on the mobile communications device;

comparing by the known good component, the data against a database of characteristics for known good data stored in the mobile communications device; and

if the comparison by the known good component does not result in a positive match, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

if the comparison by the known good component results in a positive match, then comparing by the known bad component, the data against either a database of characteristics for known bad data stored in the mobile communications device memory, or against a database of known bad data signatures stored in the mobile communications device memory, or against a database of known bad data patterns stored in the mobile communications device memory; and

if the comparison by the known bad component results in a positive match, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

if the comparison by the known bad component does not result in a positive match, then using the decision component, performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious;

if the analysis shows that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device; and

if the analysis shows that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

20. In a mobile communications device having a network interface for receiving and sending data, a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, and a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, a method comprising:

providing data on the mobile communications device;

applying a hash function to the data to create a hash identifier for the data; and

comparing by the known good component, the data hash identifier against a database of identifiers of known good data stored in the mobile communications device memory; and

if the comparison by the known good component does not result in a positive match, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

if the comparison by the known good component results in a positive match, then comparing by the known bad component, the data hash identifier against a database of identifiers of known bad data stored in the mobile communications device memory, or against a database of known bad data signatures stored in the mobile communications device memory, or against a database of known bad data patterns stored in the mobile communications device memory; and

if the comparison by the known bad component results in a positive match, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

if the comparison by the known bad component does not result in a positive match, then using the decision component, performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious;

if the analysis shows that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device; and

if the analysis shows that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

23. In a mobile communications device having a network interface for receiving and sending data, a memory and a microprocessor, and further having software components for processing, analyzing and storing data, including at least a known good component for identifying data that is recognizably safe, a known bad component for identifying data that is recognizably malicious, and a decision component for evaluating whether data is safe or malicious, a method comprising:

providing data on the mobile communications device;

applying by the known good component, logic on the data to determine if the data is not safe; and

if the known good component logic determines that the data is not safe, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

if the known good component logic does not determine that the data is not safe, applying by the known bad component, logic on the data to determine if it is malicious; and

if the known bad component determines that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

using the decision component, performing an analysis on the data by the decision component to determine if the data is safe or malicious;

if the analysis shows that the data is safe, then allowing the data to be processed by the mobile communications device; and

if the analysis shows that the data is malicious, then rejecting the data from being processed by the mobile communications device.