APPARATUS METHOD AND MEDIUM FOR TRACING THE ORIGIN OF NETWORK TRANSMISSIONS USING N-GRAM DISTRIBUTION OF DATA

• US 20150180895A1
• Filed: 03/04/2015
• Published: 06/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Original Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Inventors: Stolfo, Salvatore J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,063,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/55 Detecting local intrusion or implementing counter-measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/56 Computer malware detection or handling, e.g. anti-virus arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/562 Static detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/563 by source code analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/564 by virus signature recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0218 Distributed architectures, e.g. distributed firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and medium are provided for tracing the origin of network transmissions. Connection records are maintained at computer system for storing source and destination addresses. The connection records also maintain a statistical distribution of data corresponding to the data payload being transmitted. The statistical distribution can be compared to that of the connection records in order to identify the sender. The location of the sender can subsequently be determined from the source address stored in the connection record. The process can be repeated multiple times until the location of the original sender has been traced.

Claims

1-17. -17. (canceled)

18. A method of tracing the location of an origin computer system that initially transmits a suspect data payload across a computer network to an end target computer system, the method comprising:

creating, using a hardware processor, a connection record for a transmission to a first computer system through the computer network of a plurality of computer systems;

generating, using the hardware processor, a byte value statistical distribution of data contained in a data payload corresponding to the connection record;

calculating, using the hardware processor, a distance between the byte value statistical distribution of data contained in the data payload and a model distribution representative

identifying, using the hardware processor, the data payload as a suspect data payload based on the calculated distance;

setting, using the hardware processor, the first computer system as a suspect computer system;

upon determining at least one byte value statistical distribution that is similar to the byte value statistical distribution of the data contained in the suspect data payload, determining, using the hardware processor, address information associated with the at least one byte value statistical distribution; and

setting, using the hardware processor, a second computer system associated with the address information as the suspect computer system.