A machine learning approach with verification of predictions and assisted supervision for a rule-based network intrusion detection system

Network security is a branch of network management in which network intrusion detection systems provide attack detection features by monitorization of traffic data. Rule-based misuse detection systems use a set of rules or signatures to detect attacks that exploit a particular vulnerability. These rules have to be handcoded by experts to properly identify vulnerabilities, which results in misuse detection systems having limited extensibility. This paper proposes a machine learning layer on top of a rule-based misuse detection system that provides automatic generation of detection rules, prediction verification and assisted classification of new data. Our system offers an overall good performance, while adding an heuristic and adaptive approach to existing rule-based misuse detection systems

Command & Control: Understanding, Denying and Detecting - A review of malware C2 techniques, detection and defences

In this survey, we first briefly review the current state of cyber attacks, highlighting significant recent changes in how and why such attacks are performed. We then investigate the mechanics of malware command and control (C2) establishment: we provide a comprehensive review of the techniques used by attackers to set up such a channel and to hide its presence from the attacked parties and the security tools they use. We then switch to the defensive side of the problem, and review approaches that have been proposed for the detection and disruption of C2 channels. We also map such techniques to widely-adopted security controls, emphasizing gaps or limitations (and success stories) in current best practices.Comment: Work commissioned by CPNI, available at c2report.org. 38 pages. Listing abstract compressed from version appearing in repor

Fuzzy Rule Interpolation and SNMP-MIB for Emerging Network Abnormality

It is difficult to implement an efficient detection approach for Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and many factors contribute to this challenge. One such challenge concerns establishing adequate boundaries and finding a proper data source. Typical IDS detection approaches deal with raw traffics. These traffics need to be studied in depth and thoroughly investigated in order to extract the required knowledge base. Another challenge involves implementing the binary decision. This is because there are no reasonable limits between normal and attack traffics patterns. In this paper, we introduce a novel idea capable of supporting the proper data source while avoiding the issues associated with the binary decision. This paper aims to introduce a detection approach for defining abnormality by using the Fuzzy Rule Interpolation (FRI) with Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Management Information Base (MIB) parameters. The strength of the proposed detection approach is based on adapting the SNMP-MIB parameters with the FRI.  This proposed method eliminates the raw traffic processing component which is time consuming and requires extensive computational measures. It also eliminates the need for a complete fuzzy rule based intrusion definition. The proposed approach was tested and evaluated using an open source SNMP-MIB dataset and obtained a 93% detection rate. Additionally, when compared to other literature in which the same test-bed environment was employed along with the same number of parameters, the proposed detection approach outperformed the support vector machine and neural network. Therefore, combining the SNMP-MIB parameters with the FRI based reasoning could be beneficial for detecting intrusions, even in the case if the fuzzy rule based intrusion definition is incomplete (not fully defined)