On the trail of servers gone bad

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Honeyclients ' designed to recognize Web sites that are up to no good ' are a new weapon in the never-ending battle against malicious code.

LANDO, Fla. ' Federal agencies increasingly are seeking out fledgling 'honeyclient' technology to detect and analyze Web sites that contain and distribute malware, cybersecurity experts say.The honeyclient apps built by Mitre are virtual machines, trolling the Web to detect sites that reveal signs of malware when evaluated against the baseline performance of safe sites, said computer scientist Kathy Wang, lead infosec engineer/scientist at Mitre.Honeyclients 'provide the capability to potentially detect client-side exploits' that can be used in malware attacks, Wang said during a presentation at the recent GFirst conference here. GFirst is an acronym for Government Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams. Her previous published work on the topic has described Army honeyclient research, among other aspects of the field.The exploits on the malicious sites often allow the server operator to enslave the PCs of unsuspecting visitors on a bot herd of zombie computers. Malicious coders routinely sell newly discovered exploits ' of the Microsoft Vista operating system, for example ' at prices as high as $250,000 for the most valuable vulnerabilities, cybersecurity experts said.Botnet herders, in turn, rent out the capability of their hijacked computers at rates ranging from a few cents a month for a home computer to several dollars monthly for a PC inside a corporate network, the cybersecurity specialists said. Criminals and terrorists are willing to pay those rates to broadcast malicious spam and other attacks, they added.Mitre now operates six autonomous honeyclients, which navigate the Web in a spider-like fashion as they hunt for potentially malicious servers, Wang said. The honeyclients report their findings about suspect sites and servers back to Mitre for analysis, she said.Several federal agencies are in discussions with Wang and her Mitre colleagues about how to use honeyclients to proactively identify and counteract malicious servers, she said.'The attackers are starting to include honeyclient avoidance technology on malicious servers,' she told the audience of cybersecurity professionals. Wang said the operators of malicious sites have started to use features in their servers that can distinguish between a visit by a human and a visit by a honeyclient virtual machine.As a result, Wang said, 'we are building a human-like honeyclient prototype.' The prototype will mimic human behavior partly by showing the delays and bandwidth footprint that human visitors show when they check a site.The Mitre software is available via the company's Web site as open-source code based on VMWare Server, which also is open source.'You will need [Microsoft] Windows and as many analysts as you can afford' to set up a honeyclient operation, Wang said. Her organization has detected many more suspect sites and servers than it has time to fully analyze with its available staff of software engineers.Greg Garcia, the Homeland Security Department's assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications, said his organization had received more than 21,000 reports of cyberincidents through May of this fiscal year, in contrast to about 24,000 during all of fiscal 2006.'Phishing attacks accounted for about 72 percent of complaints in the most recent quarter,' Garcia said in his opening remarks.He highlighted the importance of the sector-specific infrastructure protection plans that DHS released in May. Adding operational content to those plans is a major department goal for the rest of this year and beyond, he added.DHS worked with infrastructure-sector teams known as information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs) to frame the plans.Speaking during a subsequent panel alongside leaders of the Information Technology and Communications ISACs, Garcia said he and his industry peers would work during the coming months to combine the operational functions of the two industry groups. 'Increasingly, we are finding that IT and communications are one and the same,' Garcia said.'We are working with the IT ISAC [and its communications counterpart] to co-locate them under one roof to increase the level of integration and situational awareness,' Garcia said. 'This is a longer-term objective of mine and one we are getting started on right now.'In a separate, private interview, Garcia cited the role of botnets during recent cyberattacks on Estonian government and commercial sites. In botnet incidents, Garcia said, 'attribution is really difficult. Before you declare war, you have to know who the enemy is.'That's what makes the botnet challenge so vexing,' Garcia added. 'It is very difficult to trace back to the botnet herder. We have a working group within the National Cyber Response Coordination Group working to understand botnets better, to deal with them and stop them.'

'That's what makes the botnet challenge so vexing. It is very difficult to trace back to the botnet herder.' ' Greg Garcia, DHS

GCN Photo by Rick Steele




































NEXT STORY: DITA to that

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.