VB2014 paper: Duping the machine - malware strategies, post sandbox detection

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jan 13, 2015

James Wyke looks at malware that takes extra steps to frustrate researchers.

Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we have been sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video recordings of the presentations. Today, we have added 'Duping the machine - malware strategies, post sandbox detection' by Sophos researcher James Wyke.

To hinder the automatic detection of malware samples, it is common for malware authors to add mechanisms that detect whether the malware is being run inside a sandbox.

Most malware simply halts execution once it detects that it is running inside a sandbox, but in his VB2014 presentation, James Wyke looked at four malware families (Andromeda, Simda, Vundo and Shylock) that go a step further and employ various kinds of decoy behaviour.

  Decoy configuration data returned by Shylock's C&C server in case the malware is running in a virtual environment.

This can vary from performing benign behaviour by connecting to a non-malicious server rather than the real command-and-control server, to returning fake configuration data when such a server receives a request from a sandboxed sample.

In all cases it will hamper detection and frustrate researchers. It could also help the malware authors to build a blacklist of researchers' IP addresses so that, should they harden their environment, they still won't see the real behaviour of the malware.

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



Posted on 13 January 2015 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.