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Anomalous Payload-Based Worm Detection and Signature Generation

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Recent Advances in Intrusion Detection (RAID 2005)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 3858))

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Abstract

New features of the PAYL anomalous payload detection sensor are demonstrated to accurately detect and generate signatures for zero-day worms. Experimental evidence demonstrates that site-specific packet content models are capable of detecting new worms with high accuracy in a collaborative security system. A new approach is proposed that correlates ingress/egress payload alerts to identify the worm’s initial propagation. The method also enables automatic signature generation that can be deployed immediately to network firewalls and content filters to proactively protect other hosts. We also propose a collaborative privacy-preserving security strategy whereby different hosts can exchange PAYL signatures to increase accuracy and mitigate against false positives. The important principle demonstrated is that correlating multiple alerts identifies true positives from the set of anomaly alerts and reduces incorrect decisions producing accurate mitigation.

This work has been partially supported by a grant with the Army Research Office/DHS, No. DA W911NF-04-1-0442 and an SBIR subcontract with the HS ARPA division of the Department of Homeland Security.

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Wang, K., Cretu, G., Stolfo, S.J. (2006). Anomalous Payload-Based Worm Detection and Signature Generation. In: Valdes, A., Zamboni, D. (eds) Recent Advances in Intrusion Detection. RAID 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3858. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11663812_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11663812_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-31778-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31779-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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