VB2014 paper: Sweeping the IP space: the hunt for evil on the Internet

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Nov 21, 2014

Dhia Mahjoub explains how the topology of the AS graph can be used to uncover hotspots of maliciousness.

Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video recordings of the presentations. Today, we have added 'Sweeping the IP space: the hunt for evil on the Internet' by OpenDNS researcher Dhia Mahjoub.

The Internet is often described as a network of networks. These individual networks are called Autonomous Systems (AS): collections of IPv4 and IPv6 network prefixes administered by the same entity and sharing a common routing policy. Each AS is identified by an Autonomous System Number (ASN).

Together, the ASNs form the AS graph: a directed graph that links ASNs to their upstream counterparts. In his VB2014 paper, Dhia explains how this graph can be used to detect ASNs whose IP addresses host malicious content.

Traditionally, this is done by deriving scores based on content hosted, but by studying the ASN graph it is possible to show interconnections between ASNs and thus find IP ranges that are likely to be hosting malicious content - sometimes even before there are domains pointing to the IP addresses.

In his presentation, Dhia showed five use cases of this new way of exploring the IP space for maliciousness: from sibling ASNs all found to be hosting the same malicious content, to pre-emptively detecting malicious subdomains injected under compromised domains.

You can read the paper here in HTML-format, or download it here as a PDF (no registration or subscription required). We have also uploaded the presentation to our YouTube channel.



Posted on 21 November 2014 by Martijn Grooten
twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

VBSpam tests to be executed under the AMTSO framework

VB is excited to announce that, starting from the Q3 test, all VBSpam tests of email security products will be executed under the AMTSO framework.

In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Professor Ross Anderson a few days ago.

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.