Labeling computing objects for improved threat detection
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- processing a first object on an endpoint, the first object from a location external to the endpoint;
in response to a first observed action, coloring the first object with a descriptor of a context for the first observed action by persistently associating the descriptor with the first object, the context including one or more attributes selected for a relevance to threat detection, including at least one attribute identifying the first object as exposed to external data;
at a second object internal to the endpoint, inheriting the descriptor when the second object is a target of an action by the first object;
applying a rule dependent on the descriptor, including the at least one attribute identifying the first object as exposed to external data, in response to a second observed action of the second object to detect a reportable event based in part on an exposure of the second object to the external data; and
transmitting information to a threat management facility about the reportable event, the information including a description of the reportable event and the second object along with the descriptor of the context.
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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.
54 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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processing a first object on an endpoint, the first object from a location external to the endpoint; in response to a first observed action, coloring the first object with a descriptor of a context for the first observed action by persistently associating the descriptor with the first object, the context including one or more attributes selected for a relevance to threat detection, including at least one attribute identifying the first object as exposed to external data; at a second object internal to the endpoint, inheriting the descriptor when the second object is a target of an action by the first object; applying a rule dependent on the descriptor, including the at least one attribute identifying the first object as exposed to external data, in response to a second observed action of the second object to detect a reportable event based in part on an exposure of the second object to the external data; and transmitting information to a threat management facility about the reportable event, the information including a description of the reportable event and the second object along with the descriptor of the context. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. 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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processing a first object on an endpoint, the first object from a location external to the endpoint; in response to a first observed action, coloring the first object with a descriptor of a context for the first observed action by persistently associating the descriptor with the first object, the context including one or more attributes selected for a relevance to threat detection, including at least one attribute identifying the first object as exposed to external data; at a second object internal to the endpoint, inheriting the descriptor when the second object is a target of an action by the first object; applying a rule dependent on the descriptor, including the at least one attribute identifying the first object as exposed to external data, in response to a second observed action of the second object to detect a reportable event based in part on an exposure of the second object to the external data; and transmitting information to a threat management facility about the reportable event, the information including a description of the reportable event and the second object along with the descriptor of the context.
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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 processor and a memory, the memory storing a first object and a second object, and the processor configured to process the first object, the first object from a location external to the endpoint, to color the first object, in response to a first observed action, with a descriptor of a context for the first observed action by persistently associating the descriptor with the first object, the context including one or more attributes selected for a relevance to threat detection, including at least one attribute identifying the first object as exposed to external data, to inherit, at the second object internal to the endpoint, the descriptor when the second object is a target of an action by the first object, to apply a rule dependent on the descriptor, including the at least one attribute identifying the first object as exposed to external data, in response to a second observed action of the second object to detect a reportable event based in part on an exposure of the second object to the external data, and to transmit information to the threat management facility about the reportable event, the information including a description of the reportable event and the second object along with the descriptor of the context.
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Specification