Threat detection using a time-based cache of reputation information on an enterprise endpoint
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- detecting an action at an endpoint;
transmitting a first indication of compromise from the endpoint to a remote threat management facility, the first indication of compromise including a description of the action, wherein the description of the action includes an identifier of a process, executing on the endpoint, that took the action, wherein the description of the action further includes a second identifier of an object programmatically associated with the process through the action;
at the endpoint, receiving from the remote threat management facility a reputation score for the action and a time to live for the action, the reputation score based on the description of the action including the process and the object programmatically associated with the process through the action;
caching the description and the reputation score in an event cache on the endpoint for a duration equal to the time to live;
accumulating a plurality of the descriptions and reputation scores that have not expired in the event cache;
expiring at least one of the descriptions and reputation scores by removing the at least one of the descriptions and reputation scores from the event cache after the time to live;
generating a threat detection when a pattern of the descriptions and reputation scores in the event cache indicates malicious software operating on the endpoint; and
communicating the threat detection to the threat management facility.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Threat detection instrumentation is simplified by providing and updating labels for computing objects in a context-sensitive manner. This may include simple labeling schemes to distinguish between objects, e.g., trusted/untrusted processes or corporate/private data. This may also include more granular labeling schemes such as a three-tiered scheme that identifies a category (e.g., financial, e-mail, game), static threat detection attributes (e.g., signatures, hashes, API calls), and explicit identification (e.g., what a file or process calls itself). By tracking such data for various computing objects and correlating these labels to malware occurrences, rules can be written for distribution to endpoints to facilitate threat detection based on, e.g., interactions of labeled objects, changes to object labels, and so forth. In this manner, threat detection based on complex interactions of computing objects can be characterized in a platform independent manner and pre-processed on endpoints without requiring significant communications overhead with a remote threat management facility.
29 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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detecting an action at an endpoint; transmitting a first indication of compromise from the endpoint to a remote threat management facility, the first indication of compromise including a description of the action, wherein the description of the action includes an identifier of a process, executing on the endpoint, that took the action, wherein the description of the action further includes a second identifier of an object programmatically associated with the process through the action; at the endpoint, receiving from the remote threat management facility a reputation score for the action and a time to live for the action, the reputation score based on the description of the action including the process and the object programmatically associated with the process through the action; caching the description and the reputation score in an event cache on the endpoint for a duration equal to the time to live; accumulating a plurality of the descriptions and reputation scores that have not expired in the event cache; expiring at least one of the descriptions and reputation scores by removing the at least one of the descriptions and reputation scores from the event cache after the time to live; generating a threat detection when a pattern of the descriptions and reputation scores in the event cache indicates malicious software operating on the endpoint; and communicating the threat detection to the threat management facility. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. 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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detecting an action at an endpoint; transmitting a first indication of compromise from the endpoint to a remote threat management facility, the indication of compromise including a description of the action, wherein the description of the action includes an identifier of a process, executing on the endpoint, that took the action, wherein the description of the action further includes a second identifier of an object associated with the process through the action; at the endpoint, receiving from the remote threat management facility a reputation score for the action and a time to live for the action, the reputation score based on the description of the action including the process and the object programmatically associated with the process through the action; caching the description and the reputation score in an event cache on the endpoint for a duration equal to the time to live; accumulating a plurality of the descriptions and reputation scores that have not expired in the event cache; expiring at least one of the descriptions and reputation scores by removing the at least one of the descriptions and reputation scores from the event cache after the time to live; generating a threat detection when a pattern of the descriptions and reputation scores in the event cache indicates malicious software operating on the endpoint; and communicating the threat detection to the threat management facility. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system comprising:
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a threat management facility configured to manage threats to an enterprise; and an endpoint of the enterprise having a memory and a processor, the memory storing an object and a process, and the processor configured to detect an action at the endpoint, to transmit an indication of compromise from the endpoint to a remote threat management facility, the indication of compromise including a description of the action, wherein the description of the action includes an identifier of the process, executing on the endpoint, that took the action, wherein the description of the action further includes a second identifier of the object associated with the process through the action, to receive from the threat management facility a reputation score for the action and a time to live for the action, the reputation score based on the description of the action including the process and the object programmatically associated with the process through the action, to cache the description and the reputation score in an event cache on the endpoint for a duration equal to the time to live, to accumulate a plurality of the descriptions and reputation scores that have not expired in the event cache, to expire at least one of the descriptions and reputation scores by removing the at least one of the descriptions and reputation scores from the event cache after the time to live, and to generate a threat detection for communication to the threat management facility when a pattern of the descriptions and reputation scores in the event cache indicates malicious software operating on the endpoint. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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Specification