Detecting secure or encrypted tunneling in a computer network

• US 8,544,100 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2010
• Issued: 09/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Ramcharran, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Michael S
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TRONG H
• Application Number:
  US12/829,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20110258703A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,180 Days
• Field of Search: 726 1- 3, 726/10, 726 22- 29, 713150-181
• US Class Current: 726/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a computer assisted method for detecting encrypted tunneling or proxy avoidance which may include electronically receiving information from a proxy server, extracting information regarding a CONNECT function of Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) from the electronically received information, determining at least one destination to which the extracted information regarding the CONNECT function of HTTP corresponds and attempting to negotiate a standard HTTPS session with each of the at least one destination. Further, the computer assisted method may further include, for each of the at least one destination, determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling or proxy avoidance application, wherein such a determining may be based on characteristics of an Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate associated with the destination or a response received from the destination over a TCP/IP connection.

Claims

1. A computer assisted method for detecting encrypted tunneling comprising:

electronically receiving information from a proxy server;

extracting information regarding a CONNECT function of Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) from the electronically received information;

determining at least one destination to which the extracted information regarding the CONNECT function of HTTP corresponds;

attempting to negotiate a standard Hyper Text Transport Protocol Secure (HTTPS) session with each of the at least one destination; and

for each of the at least one destination,

determining if a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate associated with the destination has been issued by a trusted certificate authority;

determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application, wherein the determining is based on characteristics of the SSL certificate;

in response to a determination that it is unable to be determined whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application based on characteristics of the SSL certificate, determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application based on characteristics of a response received from the destination over a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) connection; and

generating a security alert in response to a determination that the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one destination is at least one Internet Protocol (IP) address or at least one IP address in combination with at least one port number.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining if a destination, of the at least one destination to which the extracted information regarding the CONNECT function of HTTP corresponds, is a destination that has been previously identified by the method as a destination hosting an encrypted tunneling or proxy avoidance application by comparing the destination with a database of previously identified destinations.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

for each destination of the at least one destination,

comparing the destination with a database of previously identified destinations identified as hosting an encrypted tunneling application; and

determining if the destination, is a previously identified destination.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

upon determining the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application, recording the destination in a database of previously identified destinations identified as hosting an encrypted tunneling application.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application includes determining whether the SSL certificate is self signed.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application includes determining a name of a website associated with the SSL certificate.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application based on characteristics of the response includes determining a service being operated at the destination.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the response received from the destination over the transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) connection includes at least one of:

capabilities of the service, a version of the service, and an operating system on which the service is running.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application includes determining at least one of:

a port or channel hopping patterns of a service being operated at the destination and a length of traffic of a service being operated at the destination.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting information regarding a CONNECT function of HTTP from the electronically received information and the determining at least one destination to which the extracted information regarding the CONNECT function of HTTP corresponds occur immediately upon the electronically received information from the proxy server being received.

12. An encrypted tunneling detecting apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing computer executable instructions that cause the at least one processor to perform a method for detecting encrypted tunneling comprising;

electronically receiving information from a proxy server;

extracting information regarding a CONNECT function of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) from the electronically received information;

determining at least one destination to which the extracted information regarding the CONNECT function of HTTP corresponds;

attempting to negotiate a standard Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) session with each of the at least one destination; and

for each of the at least one destination,

determining if a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate associated with the destination has been issued by a trusted certificate authority,

determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application, wherein the determining is based on characteristics of the SSL certificate or a response received from the destination over a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connection;

in response to a determination that it is unable to be determined whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application based on characteristics of the SSL certificate, determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application based on characteristics of a response received from the destination over a TCP/IP connection; and

generating a security alert in response to a determination that the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

determining if a destination, of the at least one destination to which the extracted information regarding the CONNECT function of HTTP corresponds, is a destination that has been previously identified by the method as a destination hosting an encrypted tunneling or proxy avoidance application by comparing the destination with a database of previously identified destinations.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

for each destination of the at least one destination,

comparing the destination with a database of previously identified destinations identified as hosting an encrypted tunneling application; and

determining if the destination, is a previously identified destination.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising:

upon determining the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application, recording the destination in a database of previously identified destinations identified as hosting an encrypted tunneling application.

16. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application includes determining whether the SSL certificate is self signed.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the determining whether the destination is hosting an encrypted tunneling application based on characteristics of the response includes determining a service being operated at the destination.