Patent Grant
12010094
The present invention generally relates to the protection of connectivity modules from denial-of-service attacks.
It more particularly relates to a method for filtering attack flows targeting a connectivity module receiving a plurality of connection inflows.
It also relates to a device for filtering such an attack flow.
Denial-of-service attacks (DoS attacks) and distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS attacks) are cyber-attacks the aim of which is to make a service of an attacked site unavailable. It is not a question in the context of these attacks of corrupting the data of the attacked site.
These attacks are able to target any server-linked connectivity module, and in particular any Internet-server-linked connectivity module.
The connectivity module of a motor vehicle is generally connected to a private network of the manufacturer. However, in order to improve in particular driver-assistance systems or to propose a wider range of choice in a provided multimedia offering, it is envisioned to connect the connectivity module of a motor vehicle to a public Internet network. In this case, the connectivity module will be exposed to various attacks, and in particular to distributed denial-of-service attacks.
A machine-learning method used to detect potential attacks targeting a connectivity module, i.e. a piece of network equipment such as for example a server or a router, is known. The known method was developed for important pieces of network equipment that receive an infinite number of incoming and outgoing connections. This method aims to classify the incoming Internet flows (or IP flows, IP being the acronym of Internet protocol) into legitimate flows and attack flows.
To do this, the method is based on the graphical distribution of parameters characterizing the incoming flows in a plurality of sub-spaces. A sub-space is defined by the graphical zone delineated by two parameters characterizing an inflow. It may for example be a question of a graph showing the average lifetime of a request (the remainders of the IP packets) as a function of the number of connection-flow sources.
Under nominal conditions the parameters of the inflow congregate graphically into a cluster about one operating point, whereas in case of attack the parameters of the attack flows have aberrant values and congregate graphically about isolated points or outliers.
In the known method, the plurality of connection inflows is aggregated, in a given time period, by source address. The various aggregated flows are then analyzed and if an attack is detected (by the presence of at least one aberrant value), the inflow identified as illegitimate is filtered at once by virtue of the great computing capacities of the processors involved.
This method is effective in the case of network equipment connected to the public Internet network (typically servers), because the plurality of connection inflows or outflows consists of a very high number of connections allowing reliable statistics to be extracted and because the processors used to perform the processing are powerful. As an attack generally results in a number of connection inflows that is low with respect to the total number of connection inflows, distinction between clusters and aberrant values is possible and works well.
In contrast, a connectivity module of a motor vehicle is suitable for receiving only a limited number of incoming connections (in general about ten connections). During the analysis of inflows, legitimate flows would thus be drowned out in the attack flows and the latter would appear as a cluster (and therefore as the nominal conditions) and no longer as aberrant values. The solution described above can therefore not be applied to the protection of a connectivity module of a motor vehicle.
The present invention proposes to improve the detection of attacks targeting connectivity modules, in particular in the case of a connectivity module comprised in a motor vehicle.
More particularly, according to the invention, a method for filtering attack flows such as defined in the introduction is proposed, the method comprising steps of:
then, if the abnormality score is comprised in a zone of doubt as to the presence of attack flows:
Thus, according to the invention, attack flows are detected in a plurality of distinct phases of implementation thus limiting the computational power required to execute these phases. This implementation may therefore be implemented by processes that are not very powerful, such as those integrated into a connectivity module of a vehicle.
In addition, the use of a second measurement vector, defined depending on other characteristic parameters that are distinct and independent from the characteristic parameters usually used, allows the conclusion obtained as to the presence or absence of an attack targeting the connectivity module of the vehicle to be validated.
The following, which may be implemented individually or in any technically possible combination, are other nonlimiting and advantageous features of the method for filtering attack flows according to the invention:
The invention also provides a device for filtering attack flows targeting a connectivity module from a plurality of connection inflows, which comprises:
The following description, which is given with reference to the appended drawings, which are given by way of nonlimiting example, will allow a clear understanding of what the invention consists of and how it may be carried out.
In the appended drawings:
The connection flows may for example come from servers, allowing for example access to the Internet. The connectivity module 5 is for example connected to a multimedia processor 10 of the vehicle 1, thus allowing a broadened multimedia offering to be accessed by an individual present inside the vehicle 1.
The device 2 for filtering attack flows is suitable for analyzing the connection flows received by the connectivity module 5 in order to identify potential attacks. The device 2 for filtering attack flows is also suitable for filtering detected attacks.
As shown in
The device 2 for filtering attack flows comprises a set of modules (not shown). These modules may in practice be produced by combining hardware elements and software elements. Each module possesses one of the functionalities described in the method according to the invention and described below.
The method starts in step E2, with reception by the connectivity module 5 of a plurality of connection inflows. These various connection inflows may come from a single source entity (for example a single server) or from a plurality of distinct source entities.
For the rest of the method, a first observation time window Δt is defined, in which the steps of the method will be implemented. This first observation time window is for example about 5 s.
This first observation time window is divided into successive time periods δti. In the context of this invention, the time periods δti are identical. The time period δti used is for example about 100 milliseconds (the first observation time window therefore consists of 50 successive distinct time periods). The time period δti corresponds to the time period during which all of the connection inflows are analyzed in order to determine whether a distributed denial-of-service attack is present.
In step E4, all of the connection inflows received during one time period δti are combined in order to obtain a single flow referred to as an “aggregate”. In step E4, one aggregate is therefore obtained per time period (about fifty aggregates are therefore obtained in the entirety of the first observation time window Δt).
In practice, each connection flow contains a succession of data, in particular data allowing access to the network. Combining all of the connection inflows then consists in grouping all of the data contained in all of the connection flows into a single flow (called an “aggregate” in this description).
An aggregate is defined by way of a first measurement vector containing a plurality of measurements. For example, in a time period δti, the associated first measurement vector Xi is written Xi=[xi,n], with xi,n a variable that corresponds to a measurement n during the time period δti. Each variable xi,n is computed differently depending on the type of studied datum.
For example, the variable xi,n may be evaluated by computing the average of the datum in question over the time period δti. This is for example the case when the average size of the received requests (also conventionally referred to as received IP packets) is obtained by computing the average of the size of all of the received requests for all of the connections during the time period δti.
In the example of the number of sources, the variable xi,n is determined from the number of different source addresses received during the time period δti.
In the example of the average number of sources per sub-network, the variable xi,n is determined from the number of different source addresses received during the time period δti and from the number of sub-networks (denoted Nr below) among the requests received during the time period δti. In practice, only the 24 first bits of the source address (this source address is denoted IP/24) are considered. Then, for each source address IP/24, the number of different sources and the number of received requests (or received IP packets) are determined. Finally, the average number of sources per sub-network (denoted Ns/r in the formula below) is obtained by weighting the number of different sources per source address IP/24 (denoted Ns in the following formula) with the number of received requests per source address IP/24 (denoted NP in the following formula):
As regards the proportion of transmission requests received (which is also referred to as proportion of TCP connection requests, TCP being the acronym of transmission control protocol), the variable xi,n is defined as being the ratio between the number of transmission requests received during the time period δti and the total number of received requests.
In the example of the proportion of received error requests (which is also referred to as the proportion of packets according to the ICMP protocol, ICMP being the acronym of Internet control message protocol), the variable xi,n is defined as being the ratio between the number of error requests received during the time period δti and the total number of received requests.
As may be seen in
These characteristic parameters allow the received Internet communication flows (or IP flows, IP being the commonly used acronym of Internet protocol) to be characterized. These received connection flows in particular depend on the type of connections in course or on the type of data that are transmitted via these connection flows. Among these characteristic parameters, the following are for example distinguished between: the number of sources of connection flows (parameter denoted x1 below), the average number of sources per sub-network (parameter denoted x2), the proportion of data transmission requests (usually determined via the TCP packets, which parameter is denoted x3), the proportion of error control requests (usually called ICMP packets, which parameter is denoted x4), the average size of the transmitted requests (usually determined from the received IP packets, which parameter is denoted x5), the average lifetime of the requests (or IP packets received) during the data transfer (or TTL for time to live) or even the number of sub-networks.
These characteristic parameters are discriminant to allow a distributed denial-of-service attack on a connectivity module to be identified.
Here, the first measurement vector Xi comprises the five parameters denoted x1, x2, x3, x4, x5.
At the end of step E6, a first measurement vector Xi is determined per time period δti and therefore a plurality of first measurement vectors Xi is obtained in the first observation time window Δt. Thus, for example, for a time period of 100 ms and a first observation time window of 5 s, 50 first measurement vectors are obtained.
These first measurement vectors Xi are used subsequently in the method in step E8. The characteristic parameters allow projection sub-spaces to be defined. A sub-space is defined as being a grid of cells. For this grid, the first axis, for example the abscissa axis, corresponds to a first characteristic parameter and the second axis, for example the ordinate axis, corresponds to a second characteristic parameter. In practice, the pairwise-selected characteristic parameters allow a plurality of two-dimensional sub-spaces to be defined. As a variant, sub-spaces having more dimensions could also be considered.
In step E8, the first measurement vectors Xi are projected into the sub-spaces defined by the characteristic parameters. All of the first measurement vectors Xi obtained in the first observation time window Δt are projected into these sub-spaces. By projection, what is meant is identifying the cell of the grid to which the value of the projected first measurement vector Xi belongs. In other words, for a sub-space defined from two data n and m, the projection corresponds to the identification of the cell of the grid to which the point (xi,n;xi,m) of the first measurement vector Xi belongs.
In practice, before the projection, the first measurement vectors Xi are normalised in order to ensure a relevant comparison of the characteristic parameters. Here, each of the characteristic parameters of the first measurement vectors Xi is normalised by a predefined value of the parameter in question. The predefined values used correspond for example to the reasonably maximum values of the characteristic parameters. The notion of “maximum” is defined with respect to the limiting connection flow that a connectivity module present in a motor vehicle may receive. For example, for the average size of the transmitted requests (or received IP packets), which parameter is denoted x5, the value 1500 will be used as normalizing value for the IPv4 version of the IP protocol. The value 8000 will be used as normalizing value for the IPv6 version of the IP protocol.
The density of the cells is defined as corresponding to the proportion of first measurement vectors Xi projected into said cells. A cell is said to be dense if the proportion of first measurement vectors Xi projected into it is higher than a predefined proportion. The predefined proportion is for example equal to 5%.
A plurality of adjacent dense cells may define a cluster. By “adjacent cells”, what is meant is cells having an edge in common. In
Horizontal hatching, which is for example present in
The crosses present in
As may be seen in
In a sub-space (denoted sub-space k below), the abnormality α(j,k) of a point is defined as being the distance between the cell j to which this point belongs and the closest cluster. In other words, the abnormality α(j,k) corresponds to the distance between the cell j and the (or the more than one) closest dense cell(s) (i.e. the proportion of projected first measurement vectors Xi of which is higher than 5%). The computed distance is either the Euclidean distance or the Mahalanobis distance.
In the case where a point is in a cluster, the abnormality α(j,k) is zero. In the case where no cluster is present in the sub-space in question (i.e. no cell for example contains more than 5% of the projected first measurement vectors), the abnormality α(j,k) corresponds to the distance between the cell j and the cell having the highest density (which will however still be lower than 5%) in the sub-space k in question.
From the abnormality α(j,k) defined for each cell j of a sub-space k, it is possible to determine the average abnormality A(k) of all of the cells j of the sub-space k in question. The average abnormality is written:
where α(j,k) corresponds to the abnormality (defined above) of the cell j in the sub-space k, Dens(j,k) corresponds to the density of the cell j in the sub-space k and n is the number of cells in the sub-space k.
According to this definition, the closer the average abnormality A(k) gets to 0, the more the points (corresponding to the projections of the first measurement vectors Xi) in the first observation time window Δt are distributed in concentric clusters. By way of example, the average abnormality evaluated for the sub-space shown in
In contrast, the higher the average abnormality A(k), the more the points are uniformly distributed over the sub-space in question.
To determine the abnormality score S(X), an abnormality function F(X,k) of a first measurement vector Xi in the sub-space k is introduced:
where α(Xk,k) is the abnormality of the projection Xk of the first measurement vector Xi into the sub-space k. The average abnormality A(k) here allows the abnormality α(Xk,k) of the projection Xk of the first measurement vector Xi in question in the sub-space k to be normalized (in order to allow all of the sub-spaces to be treated equally).
From these abnormality functions F(X,k), it is possible to define an abnormality score S(X) for the first measurement vector Xi by summing over all of the sub-spaces all of the abnormality functions F(X,k) determined for each sub-space k:
The abnormality score S(X) therefore corresponds to the sum of the abnormality functions F(X,k) obtained for the projections of the first measurement vector Xi into the various sub-spaces.
The method then continues with step E12, in which a new time period δtN+1 is defined. The new time period δtN+1 is the time period that immediately follows the first observation time window Δt.
All of the connection inflows received during the new time period δtN+1 are combined in order to obtain a new aggregate (using a method similar to that employed in step E4 described above).
A new first measurement vector XN+1 contains the characteristic parameters of this new aggregate.
The abnormality score S(XN+1) determined for the new first vector XN+1 using the method described above is the quantity that will allow the device or method to determine whether attack flows are present or absent among the connection inflows received by the connectivity module 5 during the time window δtN+1. This abnormality score S(XN+1) measures the degree of abnormality of all of the connection flows received during the time period δtN+1 (and characterized by the new aggregate) with respect to the first observation time window Δt (which preceded the time period δtN+1).
From a graphical point of view, if this abnormality score S(XN+1) is high, this means that the projections of the new first measurement vector XN+1 into the various sub-spaces differ significantly from the clusters formed during the first observation period Δt and identified in the various sub-spaces in step E8. The set of connection flows corresponding to the new aggregate appears suspect and it is necessary to deepen the analysis to confirm or invalidate the presence of an attack.
To do this, in step E14, the abnormality score S(XN+1) is compared to a first threshold th1 and to a second threshold th2. The first threshold th1 is lower than the second threshold th2. Three distinct cases are described.
The first case corresponds to an abnormality score S(XN+1) lower than the first threshold th1. In this case, the absence of an attack is detected in the new time window δtN+1 and the method continues with step E20. It is a question of the examples shown in
In step E20, a second observation time window Δt′ is defined. This second observation time window Δt′ corresponds to the first observation time window Δt shifted by one time period δti. In other words, the first observation time window Δt is a moving window and it is incremented by one time period δti to define the second observation time window Δt′. This second observation time window Δt′ integrates the new first measurement vector XN+1. Finally, the two observation time windows therefore have in common a plurality of time periods. The first time period of the first observation time window (called old time period below) is not included in the second observation time window Δt′. Furthermore, the last time period of the second observation time window Δt′ (called new time period δtN+1 above) is not included in the first observation time window Δt.
In the sub-spaces considered in step E8, the projection of the first measurement vector corresponding to the old time period is deleted in step E22.
In step E24, the new first measurement vector XN+1 is projected into these sub-spaces. The clusters present in these sub-spaces are again identified using the method described with reference to step E8. Steps E22 and E24, based on the results obtained beforehand in the method, allow the execution time of the method to be limited. They also allow the computational power (in particular of a processor contained in the device 2 for filtering attack flows) required in the execution of such a method to be limited.
As shown in
The method is then reiterated again and again starting from step E12.
The second comparison case corresponds to an abnormality score higher than the second threshold th2. In this case, the presence of an attack is detected in the new time period δtN+1 and the method continues with step E60.
This second case corresponds to the examples shown in
This step E60 allows the abnormality functions F(X,k) determined in step E10 for the new first measurement vector XN+1 to be compared.
Among all of the sub-spaces considered, at least two sub-spaces are selected, in step E62. In practice, one or two sub-spaces are selected. It is a question of the sub-spaces with the highest abnormality functions F(X,k). Based on the examination made of these selected sub-spaces, the (or the more than one) attack flow(s) is (or are) then identified in particular using the clusters present in the selected sub-spaces (and that characterize the nominal operating conditions) for the first observation time window Δt (preceding the new time period δtN+1). By way of example, in
In order to allow the attack flows to be identified, the new aggregate, which is a combination of the plurality of inflows received during the new time period δtN+1, which inflows were combined to produce this combination in step E12, is decomposed into a plurality of what are referred to as separate connection flows in step E64. All of the connection inflows received during the new time period δtN+1 by the connectivity module 5 are considered for combining in step E12 with a view to forming the new aggregate. This new aggregate is separated by combining by source address the connection flows received during the new time period δtN+1. It is therefore possible to define a plurality of separate aggregates that are considered to be suspect. In practice, there are as many separate aggregates as there are source addresses.
In step E66, each of the separate aggregates is characterized by a vector referred to as an identification vector. These identification vectors are constructed from the parameters identified in step E62 by selecting sub-spaces. The identification vectors therefore comprise a small number of parameters with respect for example to the new first measurement vector XN+1 defined above. For example, if only the sub-space defined by the parameters x3 and x5 was selected in step E62, the identification vectors will comprise solely these two parameters (these two parameters being determined per separate aggregate during the new time period δtN+1).
These identification vectors are then projected into the one or more selected sub-spaces, in step E68. When these identification vectors are projected into the cells of the sub-spaces forming a cluster, the associated separate connection flow is not considered to be an attack flow. In contrast, if an identification vector is projected outside of a cluster, the separate aggregate is considered to be an attack.
At the end of this step, the attack is identified in the sub-spaces. In
By construction, the separate aggregate corresponding to an attack is associated with a set of separate connection flows coming from the same source address. The detection of the separate aggregate corresponding to an attack then allows a source address generating so-called illegitimate connection flows to be identified in step E70.
These illegitimate connection flows are then filtered in step E72 of the method. The filtering is for example carried out by blocking the illegitimate connection flows at the input of the connectivity module 5. In practice, these flows are for example blocked by adding the source address associated with the illegitimate connection flows to the list of blocked source addresses. Any request originating from this source address is then destroyed.
In step E74, once the illegitimate connection flows have been filtered, the separate connection flows are recombined to form what is called a filtered aggregate and an associated filtered first measurement vector Xf is determined. This filtered first measurement vector Xf is projected into all of the sub-spaces in question. Furthermore, as the attack flows have been filtered (attack flows are therefore not detected in the new time period), the method continues with step E20, which was described above (and which corresponds to the rest of the method when no attack has been detected).
The third case of comparison of the abnormality score S(X) to the first threshold th1 and to the second threshold th2 corresponds to an abnormality score S(X) comprised in a zone of doubt. This zone of doubt is defined for an abnormality score S(X) comprised between the first threshold th1 and the second threshold th2. In this case, no conclusion can be reached directly as to the presence or absence of an attack in the new time period δtN+1. The method then continues with step E40.
In this step E40, for each aggregate obtained in step E4 (for each time period δti of the first observation time window Lt), a second measurement vector Yi is determined. This second measurement vector Yi characterizes the aggregate with which it is associated by way of other characteristic parameters. These other characteristic parameters are distinct from the characteristic parameters associated with the first measurement vectors Xi.
These other characteristic parameters this time allow not the IP connection flows but rather the execution of software integrated into the device 2 for filtering attack flows to be characterized. These other characteristic parameters allow in particular the dispersion of the instructions and of the data with respect to the various memory levels included in the device 2 for filtering attack flows to be described. Among these other characteristic parameters, the following are for example distinguished between: the hit rate associated with access to a first cache-memory level (usually measured by the hit rate of the level-1 “data” and “instructions” cache memory), the hit rate associated with access to a second cache-memory level (usually measured by the hit rate of the level-2 unified cache memory), the miss rate associated with a third cache-memory level or even the proportion of memory used.
It is known to use these characteristic parameters to characterize the execution of software on a given processor.
At the end of step E40, one second measurement vector Yi is determined per time period δti and therefore a plurality of second measurement vectors Yi are obtained in the first observation time window Δt. Thus, for example, for a time period of 100 ms and a first observation time window of 5 s, 50 second measurement vectors are obtained.
These second measurement vectors Yi are used subsequently in the method in step E42 in which they are analyzed in order to allow the doubt as to the detection of presence or absence of an attack to be removed.
The aim of the analysis of the second measurement vectors Yi is to detect abnormal operations in the execution of the software.
In the same way as for the first measurement vector Xi, in step E6, the second measurement vectors Yi are projected into two-dimensional sub-spaces. It is also possible to identify clusters and to determine one other average abnormality per sub-space B(k) (on the same principle as the determination of the average abnormality A(k)).
When the preceding steps of the method identify a doubt as to the presence of an attack during the new time period δtN+1 on the basis of the analysis of the new first vector XN+1, another abnormality score S(YN+1), for a new second measurement vector YN+1 associated with the new time period δtN+1, is computed using the method described above.
This other abnormality score S(YN+1) is then compared to a third threshold th3. If the other abnormality score S(YN+1) is higher than the third threshold th3, the presence of an attack during the new time period δtN+1 is confirmed.
As shown in
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1853343 | Apr 2018 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2019/058477 | 4/4/2019 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2019/201609 | 10/24/2019 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 20210168119 A1 | Jun 2021 | US |
