Mitigation of anti-sandbox malware techniques

• US 9,942,263 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2015
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sophos Limited (Sophos Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sophos Limited (Sophos Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kraft, Chris Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Paliwal, Yogesh
• Application Number:
  US14/929,966
• Publication Number:
  US 20170109529A1
• Time in Patent Office: 890 Days
• Field of Search: 726 23
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• 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: G06F 21/565 by checking file integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/566 Dynamic detection, i.e. detection performed at run-time, e.g. emulation, suspicious activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/033 Test or assess software
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms

Abstract

Static analysis is applied to unrecognized software objects in order to identify and address potential anti-sandboxing techniques. Where static analysis suggests the presence of any such corresponding code, the software object may be forwarded to a sandbox for further analysis. In another aspect, multiple types of sandboxes may be provided, with the type being selected according to the type of exploit suggested by the static analysis.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a sandbox for malware testing, the method comprising:

performing a reputation analysis of a sample of a software object to detect a known, safe software object that can be executed without further analysis; and

when the software object is determined, using the reputation analysis, to be other than safe,

performing the steps of;

determining a configuration of a target endpoint for the software object;

configuring a first sandbox to match the configuration of the target endpoint;

forwarding the software object to the first sandbox for execution; and

transferring the software object to at least one additional sandbox for further testing when the software object cannot confidently be categorized as safe or unsafe by the first sandbox.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring execution of the software object in the first sandbox for a presence of a malicious action.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration includes an application configuration.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration includes an operating system configuration.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration includes a hardware configuration.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the configuration of the target endpoint includes querying the target endpoint for configuration information.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein configuring the first sandbox includes creating a new virtual machine corresponding to the configuration of the target endpoint.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein configuring the first sandbox includes installing software on a preexisting virtual machine to match a software configuration of the target endpoint.

9. A computer program product for configuring a sandbox for malware testing, the computer program product comprising computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:

performing a reputation analysis of a sample of a software object to detect a known, safe software object that can be executed without further analysis; and

when the software object is determined, using the reputation analysis, to be other than safe,

performing the steps of;

determining a configuration of a target endpoint for the software object;

configuring a first sandbox to match the configuration of the target endpoint;

forwarding the software object to the first sandbox for execution; and

transferring the software object to at least one additional sandbox for further testing when the software object cannot confidently be categorized as safe or unsafe by the first sandbox.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising code that performs the step of monitoring execution of the software object in the first sandbox for a presence of a malicious action.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the configuration includes an application configuration.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the configuration includes an operating system configuration.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the configuration includes a hardware configuration.

14. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein determining the configuration of the target endpoint includes querying the target endpoint for configuration information.

15. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein configuring the first sandbox includes creating a new virtual machine corresponding to the configuration of the target endpoint.

16. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein configuring the first sandbox includes installing software on a preexisting virtual machine to match a software configuration of the target endpoint.

17. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the one or more computing devices include at least one of an endpoint, a web gateway, an electronic mail gateway, a firewall, and a threat management facility.

18. A system comprising:

a computing device coupled to a network;

a processor; and

a memory bearing computer executable code configured to be executed by the processor to cause the computing device to perform the steps of performing a reputation analysis of a sample of a software object to detect a known, safe software object that can be executed without further analysis, and when the software object is determined, using the reputation analysis, to be other than safe, performing the steps of determining a configuration of a target endpoint for the software object, configuring a first sandbox to match the configuration of the target endpoint, and forwarding the software object to the first sandbox for execution, and transferring the software object to at least one additional sandbox for further testing when the software object cannot confidently be categorized as safe or unsafe by the first sandbox.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the computing device is a network enterprise endpoint.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the computing device includes at least one of a web gateway, an electronic mail gateway, a firewall, and a threat management facility.