4,762 research outputs found
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
Research challenges for cross-cloud application
Federated clouds can expose the Internet as a homogeneous compute fabric. There is an opportunity for developing cross-cloud applications that can be deployed pervasively over the Internet, dynamically adapting their internal topology to their needs. In this paper we explore the main challenges for fully realizing the potential of cross-cloud applications. First, we focus on the networking dimension of these applications. We evaluate what support is needed from the infrastructure, and what are the further implications of opening the networking side. On a second part, we examine the impact of a distributed deployment for applications, assessing the implications from a management perspective, and how it affects the delivery of quality of service and non-functional requirements
Personal Volunteer Computing
We propose personal volunteer computing, a novel paradigm to encourage
technical solutions that leverage personal devices, such as smartphones and
laptops, for personal applications that require significant computations, such
as animation rendering and image processing. The paradigm requires no
investment in additional hardware, relying instead on devices that are already
owned by users and their community, and favours simple tools that can be
implemented part-time by a single developer. We show that samples of personal
devices of today are competitive with a top-of-the-line laptop from two years
ago. We also propose new directions to extend the paradigm
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