System and method for managing sensor enrollment

Abstract

Sensor enrollment management is conducted where features and capabilities for one or more broker computing nodes within the cluster are received by an enrollment service operating within a management system. The enrollment service is configured to receive advertised features and capabilities for computing nodes that are part of a cluster and provide address information associated with the enrollment service to the sensor. Based on information supplied by the sensor, the enrollment service authenticates the sensor, and upon authentication, forwards keying material associated with the sensor to a computing node selected that is selected for supporting communications to the cluster from the sensor. Also, the enrollment service provides a portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the computing node to the sensor to enable the sensor to establish a secure communication path with the computing node for malware analysis of suspicious objects within network traffic monitored by the sensor.

Description

FIELD

Embodiments of the disclosure relate to the field of cybersecurity. More specifically, one embodiment of the disclosure relates to management of a malware detection system that is configured to detect the presence of malicious objects within monitored data.

GENERAL BACKGROUND

Over the last decade, cybersecurity attacks have become a pervasive problem for internet users as many networked devices and other resources have been subjected to attack and compromised. The attack may involve the infiltration of malicious software onto a network device or concentration on an exploit residing within a network device to perpetrate the cybersecurity attack (generally referred to as “malware”).

Recently, malware detection has undertaken three different approaches. One approach involves the installation of anti-virus software within network devices forming an enterprise network. Given that advanced malware is able to circumvent anti-virus analysis, this approach has been determined to be deficient.

Another approach involves the placement of dedicated malware detection appliances at various ingress points throughout a network or subnetwork. The malware detection appliances are configured to extract information propagating over the network at the ingress point, analyze the information to determine a level of suspiciousness, and conduct malware analysis internally within the appliance itself. While successful in detecting advanced malware that is attempting to infect network devices connected to the network (or subnetwork), as network traffic increases, this appliance-based approach may exhibit resource constraints. Stated differently, the dedicated, malware detection appliance has a prescribed (and finite) amount of resources (for example, bandwidth and processing power) that, once fully in use, requires either the malware detection appliance to resort to more selective traffic inspection or additional (and/or upscaled) malware detection appliances to be installed. The later solution requires a large outlay of capital and network downtime, as IT resources are needed to install the new malware detection appliances. Also, these dedicated, malware detection appliances provide limited scalability and flexibility in deployment.

Yet another approach involves the use of exclusive, cloud-based malware detection appliances. However, this exclusive cloud-based solution suffers from a number of disadvantages, including the inability of providing on-site deployment of resources at an enterprise's premises (e.g., as devices that are part of the enterprise's network infrastructure). On-site deployment may be crucial for compliance with requirements as to personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive information including those mandated at local, state, country or regional governmental levels.

For each of these malware detection approaches, the management of any scalable cybersecurity system is paramount, as any vulnerability in such management may be exploited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a malware detection system.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of logic implemented within the sensor deployed within the malware detection system of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the formation of a cluster of computing nodes within the malware detection system of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of one of the computing nodes may seek to join a cluster of the malware detection system of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2C is a block diagram of the logical composition of the computing node of FIGS. 2A-2B.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of exemplary communications between a sensor and a cloud service to obtain tenant credentials for use in sensor enrollment with a cluster.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communication exchange between a sensor and an enrollment service provided by the management system of FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary load rebalancing scheme between the sensor and enrollment service deployed within the management system of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the enrollment service provided by a web server within a public or private cloud configuration.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communication exchange between a sensor and multiple management systems for sensor enrollment for communications with an established cluster

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the handling of results produced by the object analysis system of the computing node and returned to the management system for reporting.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a cluster solely including a single broker computing node within a cluster that is in communication with a single sensor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a management architecture that is adapted to configure and manage operability of a scalable, malware detection system, which is responsible for detecting the presence of malicious objects within monitored data. The malware detection system includes one or more sensors and at least one cluster of computing nodes that is communicatively coupled to the sensors. The management architecture is configured to, at least in part, control (i) cluster formation within the malware detection system, (ii) the assignment (registration) of sensors to a particular cluster through an enrollment service, and (iii) the monitoring of operability for each cluster and/or computing node within the malware detection system.

Once the malware detection system is in operation, each sensor is configured to receive intercepted or copied information that is propagating over a network, conduct an optional preliminary evaluation of at least a portion of the information, and provide at least a portion of the evaluated information to a cluster of computing nodes assigned to the sensor(s). The portion of evaluated information may include an object, and the preliminary evaluation may involve a determination as to whether the object is suspicious, namely whether the object should be provided to the assigned cluster for an in-depth malware analysis. Examples of an “object” may include content having a logical structure or organization that enables it to be classified for purposes of analysis for malware. Examples of this content may include, but is not limited or restricted to an executable (e.g., an application, program, code segment, a script, dynamic link library “dll” or any file in a format that can be directly executed by a computer such as a file with an “.exe” extension, etc.), a non-executable (e.g., a storage file; any document such as a Portable Document Format “PDF” document; a word processing document such as Word® document; an electronic mail “email” message, URL, web page, etc.), or simply collection of related data. The object may be retrieved from information in transit (e.g., a plurality of packets) or information at rest (e.g., data bytes from a storage medium).

In operation, each cluster is of a scalable architecture that includes at least one computing node and allows for additional computing nodes to be added as the network traffic increases or for computing nodes to be removed as network traffic decreases. Highly scalable in number based on network load, a cluster of computing nodes is configured to (i) analyze data content (e.g., suspicious objects) received from a sensor that was assigned to that cluster during enrollment, and (ii) determine whether the likelihood of the object being associated with malware exceeds a prescribed threshold. If so, the object is deemed to be “malicious”. The formation of a cluster is, at least, partially controlled in accordance with a management system, as described below.

Herein, the cluster formation involves an exchange of authentication credentials with each of the computing nodes that are to be part of the cluster, an assignment of an identifier for the cluster, and an assignment of role responsibility for each of the computing nodes forming the cluster. Herein, the credential exchange occurs between the management system and each computing node requesting to join a cluster. More specifically, when requesting to join a cluster of the malware detection system, a computing node uploads its authentication credentials to the management system. The authentication credentials may include, but are not limited or restricted to information that identifies the computing node and may be used for authentication, including a public key (PUK). Additionally, or in the alternative, the authentication credentials may include an identifier for the computing node (e.g., source media access control “MAC” address, assigned device name, etc.), an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computing node, and/or an administrator password (in the event that requisite permission is needed from a network administrator for creating a cluster).

In response to receipt of the authentication credentials, if no cluster has been formed, the management system assigns the computing node to a cluster and adds the PUK of the computing node to a stored listing of public keys (hereinafter “public key listing”) for that cluster. The public key listing identifies all of the computing nodes that are part of the cluster. Thereafter, the management system provides the public key listing to the computing node. It is contemplated that, where the submission of the authentication credentials cause the creation of a cluster (i.e., the authentication credentials correspond to a first computing node for a cluster), the management system may assign an identifier (e.g., string of alphanumeric characters that represent the cluster name) to that cluster. The cluster identifier may be returned with the public key listing as well.

In response to receipt of the authentication credentials, when one or more clusters have been formed, the management system analyzes cluster workload, especially where the malware detection system includes a plurality of clusters. Based on the analyzed workload, the management system assigns the computing node to a selected cluster and adds the PUK of the computing node to the public key listing associated with the selected cluster. Thereafter, the management system notifies the current computing nodes of the selected cluster of a change in the public key listing, which may represent expansion or contraction of the cluster. This notification may be accomplished by sending notification messages including the public key listing (i.e., link or listing itself) to each of the computing nodes that are part of the selected cluster. These notification messages may be sent concurrently (e.g., conducted at least partially at the same time). Alternatively, the notification messages may be sent concurrently, but the messages merely notify the computing nodes of an updated publication of the public key listing that is available for retrieval by the computing nodes.

As a result, each of the computing nodes currently forming the cluster, including the computing node that initially provided the PUK, has access to at least public key information associated with all other computing nodes within the cluster. Additionally, the management system may utilize a portion of the authentication credentials (e.g., the PUK) to establish a secure channel with the computing node. One type of secure channel is formed in accordance with a cryptographic, public-private key exchange protocol referred to as “Secure Shell” (SSH-2). The secure channel is used in the transmission of information between the management system and the computing nodes.

The formation of the cluster further involves an assignment of role responsibility for each of the computing nodes forming the cluster. Herein, the management system may configure each computing node as either a “broker” computing node or an “analytic” computing node. As each computing node includes, at least in some embodiments, an analysis coordination system and an object analysis system, the management system may configure a computing node as a “broker” computing node by enabling its analysis coordination system. Similarly, the management system may configure a computing node as an “analytic” computing node by disabling (or refraining from enabling) its analysis coordination system. Each cluster includes at least one “broker” computing node.

For instance, when the analysis coordination system is activated, the computing node is configured to operate as a “broker” computing node, namely a network device that is selected to directly communicate with sensors that are assigned to use the cluster for more in-depth malware analysis of a suspicious object. As a “broker” computing node, the analysis coordination system may be responsible for, inter alia, (i) assigning a unique identifier to a suspicious object, and (ii) distributing the metadata associated with the suspicious object to a distributed data store, where at least a portion of the metadata may be used to locate and retrieve the suspicious object for malware analysis.

Independent of its role (“broker” or “analytic”), each computing node includes an active, object analysis system. The object analysis system is configured to conduct in-depth malware analysis on the suspicious object. Hence, although the analysis coordination system of the “analytic” computing node is inactive, the “analytic” computing node is still able to analyze an incoming object to determine whether that object is associated with malware (i.e. a malicious object).

Sensor registration involves a communication scheme where one or more sensors establish communications with an enrollment service, which may be configured as (i) a daemon application running on the management system or (ii) an enrollment engine that is operating within a public or private cloud. The enrollment service provides an IP address or user name of a particular broker computing node assigned to communicate with the sensor that requested a communicative coupling to a cluster of the malware detection system. The selection of the broker computing node may be based on geographical location of the sensor, subscription level of the customer to which the sensor pertains, workload of the broker computing nodes of the cluster, type of objects analyzed by the particular broker computing node (where certain nodes are dedicated to analysis certain object types (e.g., webpage/URL, emails), type of guest-images supported where different computing nodes may support guest images directed to a single application version/operating system version (e.g., Microsoft® Word 2013 and Windows® 7 OS), multiple (two or more) application versions and a single OS version (e.g., Microsoft® Words® applications supported by Windows® 10 OS), multiple application versions and multiple OS versions (e.g., Microsoft® Words® applications supported by Windows®-based OSes or MAC OS X), single application and multiple OS types, or other information stored in a persistent matter. Upon receipt of the IP address (or user name) of the broker computing node, the sensor establishes direct communications with that particular broker computing node to send metadata for use in establishing secure communication paths (e.g., secure tunnels) with a computing node by which suspicious objects are to be analyzed for malware. The computing node for analysis may be the broker computing node or an analytic computing node.

After one or more clusters (sometimes referred to as “cluster(s)”) of the malware detection system have been formulated and the sensor(s) are communicatively coupled to the cluster(s), the management system may be configured to monitor operability of the cluster(s) and/or each computing node of the cluster(s). Such monitoring of computing node operability may include, but is not limited or restricted to monitoring hardware functionality (e.g., fan speed, processor speed, etc.), monitoring workload (e.g., processor utilization, queue capacity, etc.), monitoring compliance with a prescribed software configuration, or the like. Similarly, the monitoring of cluster operability may include monitoring of the cluster workload based on an aggregate of each computing node workload, monitoring compliance with usage of a particular version of a guest image bundle by each computing node forming the cluster, or the like.

I. Terminology

In the following description, certain terminology is used to describe features of the invention. In certain situations, both terms “node” and “system” are representative of hardware, firmware and/or software that is configured to perform one or more functions. In particular, the terms “computing node,” “sensor” and/or “management system” are representative of hardware, firmware and/or software that is configured to perform one or more functions. As hardware, the computing node and/or management system may include circuitry having data processing or storage functionality. Examples of such circuitry may include, but are not limited or restricted to a microprocessor, one or more processor cores, a programmable gate array, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit, wireless receiver, transmitter and/or transceiver circuitry, semiconductor memory, or combinatorial logic.

Alternatively, or in combination with the hardware circuitry described above, the management system or sensor may be software in the form of one or more software modules, such as executable code in the form of an executable application, an application programming interface (API), a subroutine, a function, a procedure, an applet, a servlet, a routine, source code, object code, a shared library/dynamic load library, or one or more instructions. These software modules may be stored in any type of a suitable non-transitory storage medium, or transitory storage medium (e.g., electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals such as carrier waves, infrared signals, or digital signals). Examples of non-transitory storage medium may include, but are not limited or restricted to a programmable circuit; a semiconductor memory; non-persistent storage such as volatile memory (e.g., any type of random access memory “RAM”); persistent storage such as non-volatile memory (e.g., read-only memory “ROM”, power-backed RAM, flash memory, phase-change memory, etc.), a solid-state drive, hard disk drive, an optical disc drive, or a portable memory device. As firmware, the executable code is stored in persistent storage.

The term “computerized” generally represents that any corresponding operations are conducted by hardware in combination with software and/or firmware.

The term “message” generally refers to information in a prescribed format and transmitted in accordance with a suitable delivery protocol such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HTTP Secure (HTTPS), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), iMESSAGE, Post Office Protocol (POP), Instant Message Access Protocol (IMAP), or the like. Hence, each message may be in the form of one or more packets, frames, or any other series of bits having the prescribed format. Messages may correspond to HTTP data transmissions, email messages, text messages, or the like.

According to one embodiment, the term “malware” may be construed broadly as any code or activity that initiates a malicious attack or any operations associated with anomalous or unwanted behavior. For instance, malware may correspond to a type of malicious computer code that executes an exploit to take advantage of a vulnerability, for example, to harm or co-opt operation of a network device or misappropriate, modify or delete data. In the alternative, malware may correspond to an exploit, namely information (e.g., executable code, data, command(s), etc.) that attempts to take advantage of a vulnerability in software and/or an action by a person gaining unauthorized access to one or more areas of a network device to cause the network device to experience undesirable or anomalous behaviors. The undesirable or anomalous behaviors may include a communication-based anomaly or an execution-based anomaly, which, for example, could (1) alter the functionality of a network device executing application software in an atypical manner (a file is opened by a first process where the file is configured to be opened by a second process and not the first process); (2) alter the functionality of the network device executing that application software without any malicious intent; and/or (3) provide unwanted functionality which may be generally acceptable in another context. In yet another alternative, malware may correspond to information that pertains to the unwanted behavior such as a process that causes data such as a contact list from a network (endpoint) device to be uploaded by a network to an external storage device without receiving permission from the user.

In certain instances, the terms “compare,” “comparing,” “comparison,” or other tenses thereof generally mean determining if a match (e.g., a certain level of correlation) is achieved between two items where one of the items may include a particular pattern.

The term “network device” should be construed as any electronic device with the capability of processing data and connecting to a network. Such a network may be a public network such as the Internet or a private network such as a wireless data telecommunication network, wide area network, a type of local area network (LAN), or a combination of networks. Examples of a network device may include, but are not limited or restricted to, a laptop, a mobile phone, a tablet, a computer, standalone appliance, a router or other intermediary communication device, etc. Other examples of a network device includes a sensor (described above) as well as a computing node, namely hardware and/or software that operates as a network device to receive information from a sensor, and when applicable, perform malware analysis on that information.

The term “transmission medium” may be construed as a physical or logical communication path between two or more network devices (e.g., any devices with data processing and network connectivity such as, for example, a sensor, a computing node, mainframe, a computer such as a desktop or laptop, netbook, tablet, firewall, smart phone, router, switch, bridge, etc.) or between components within a network device. For instance, as a physical communication path, wired and/or wireless interconnects in the form of electrical wiring, optical fiber, cable, bus trace, or a wireless channel using infrared, radio frequency (RF), may be used.

The term “object” generally relates to content having a logical structure or organization that enables it to be classified for purposes of analysis for malware. The content may include an executable, a non-executable, or simply a collection of related data. The object may be retrieved from information in transit (e.g., a plurality of packets) or information at rest (e.g., data bytes from a storage medium). Examples of different types of objects may include a data element, one or more flows, or a data element within a flow itself.

Herein, a “flow” generally refers to related packets that are received, transmitted, or exchanged within a communication session, where multiple flows each being received, transmitted or exchanged within a corresponding communication session is referred to as a “multi-flow”. A “data element” generally refers to as a plurality of packets carrying related payloads, e.g., a single webpage received over a network. The data element may be an executable or a non-executable, as described above.

Finally, the terms “or” and “and/or” as used herein are to be interpreted as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, “A, B or C” or “A, B and/or C” mean “any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B and C.” An exception to this definition may occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.

As this invention is susceptible to embodiments of many different forms, it is intended that the present disclosure is to be considered as an example of the principles of the invention and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described.

II. General Malware Detection Architecture

Referring to FIG. 1A, an exemplary block diagram of a distributed malware detection system 100 is shown. The malware detection system 100 comprises one or more sensors 110₁-110_M (M≥1) that are communicatively coupled to a centralized analysis system 140. Some or all of the centralized analysis system 140 may be located at an enterprise's premises (e.g., located as any part of the enterprise's network infrastructure whether located at a single facility utilized by the enterprise or at a plurality of facilities). As an alternative embodiment, some or all of the centralized analysis system 140 may be located outside the enterprise's network infrastructure, generally referred to as public or private cloud-based services that may be hosted by a cybersecurity provider or another entity separate from the enterprise (service customer). Obtaining a high degree of deployment flexibility, embodiments can also provide “hybrid” solutions, where the malware detection system 100 can include some of the centralized analysis system 140 located on premises and some as a cloud-based service. This provides optimal scaling with controlled capital expense as well as the ability to control location(s) of deployments to satisfy local requirements, e.g., as to sensitive information

As shown in FIG. 1A, the sensors 110₁-110_M may be positioned at various locations on a transmission medium 115 that is part of the network 120 (e.g., connected at various ingress points on a wired network or positioned at various locations for receipt of wireless transmissions) and monitor data traffic propagating over the transmission medium 115. The “traffic” may include an electrical transmission of files, email messages, or the like. For instance, each sensor 110₁-110_M may be implemented either as a standalone network device, as logic implemented within a network device or integrated into a firewall, or as software running on a network device.

More specifically, according to one embodiment of the disclosure, the sensor 110₁ may be implemented as a network device that is either coupled to the transmission medium 115 directly or communicatively coupled with the transmission medium 115 via an interface 125 operating as a data capturing device. According to this embodiment, the interface 125 is configured to receive the incoming data and subsequently process the incoming data, as described below. For instance, the interface 125 may operate as a network tap (in some embodiments with mirroring capability) that provides at least one or more data submissions (or copies thereof) extracted from data traffic propagating over the transmission medium 115. Alternatively, although not shown, the sensor 110₁ may be configured to receive files or other objects automatically (or on command) accessed from a storage system. As yet another alternative, the sensor 110₁ may be configured to receive data submissions which are not provided over the network 120. For instance, as an illustrative example, the interface 125 may operate as a data capturing device (e.g., port) for receiving data submissions manually provided via a suitable dedicated communication link or from portable storage media such as a flash drive.

As further shown in FIG. 1A, one sensor 110₁ may be deployed individually or multiple sensors 110₁-110_M may be positioned in close proximity, perhaps sharing the same power source (e.g., common bus plane as described below). The sensors 110₁-110_M are configured to receive intercepted or copied data traffic and conduct an analysis on one or more packets within the data traffic to determine whether any packet or a set of related packets (flow or multi-flow) is suspicious. Such analysis may involve a determination as to whether any packets are sourced by or directed to a particular network device in a “blacklist” or a determination as to whether the body of the packet includes a certain data pattern. In the event that one or more of the packets are determined as suspicious, the monitoring sensor uploads a data submission, including metadata and an object for analysis, to the centralized analysis system 140.

Although not shown, it is contemplated that the sensor 110₁ may be implemented entirely as software for uploading into a network device and operating in cooperation with an operating system running on the network device. For this implementation, the software-based sensor is configured to operate in a manner that is substantially similar or identical to a sensor implemented as a network device as illustrated in FIG. 1B. Hence, the logic for the software-based sensor corresponds to software modules that, when executed by a processor implemented on a network device loaded with the software-based sensor, perform functions similarly to the functions performed by logic that is part of the sensor implemented as a network device.

As shown, the centralized analysis system 140 may be connected to the sensors 110₁-110_M over network 120 or a different network (e.g., a first network), and the clusters of computing nodes 150₁-150_N may be interconnected by a network (not shown), which may be network 120 or a second network (e.g., part of the first network or a different network than the first network). The network 120 may operate as part of a public network (internet) while the first and/or second networks may be part of a private network.

The centralized analysis system 140 features one or more clusters of computing nodes 150₁-150_N (N≥1), where the computing nodes are grouped in order to conduct collective operations for a set of sensors (e.g., sensors 110₁-110_M). Each cluster 150₁-150_N may include computing nodes equipped for malware analysis, including behavioral monitoring, while executing (running) objects within one or more virtual machines (VMs). The virtual machines may have different guest image bundles that include a plurality of software profiles each with a different type of operating system (OS), application program, or both. Alternatively, each cluster 150₁-150_N may include computing nodes having identical guest image bundles that include software profiles directed to the same operating system (e.g., Windows® OS cluster, MAC® OS X cluster, etc.). Additionally, the cluster 150₁-150_N may be located to communicate with sensors within the same state, Provence, region or country to ensure compliance with governmental regulations.

As shown, for illustrative purposes, a cluster 150₁ may include a plurality of computing nodes 160₁-160_P (P≥1). The plurality of computing nodes 160₁-160_P may be arranged in a “blade server” type deployment, which allows additional computing nodes to be seamlessly added to or removed from the cluster 150₁ (e.g., computing nodes 160₁-160_P being connected to a common bus plane (network) that may provide both power and signaling between the computing nodes, a hot-swapping deployment of the computing nodes forming the cluster 150₁, or any other deployment that allows a scalable computing node architecture). However, it is contemplated that any or all of clusters 150₁-150_N may be virtualized and implemented as software, where the computing nodes 160₁-160_P are software modules that communicate with each other via a selected communication protocol.

Additionally according to this embodiment of the disclosure, each of the clusters 150₁-150_N (e.g., cluster 150₁) is communicatively coupled to a distributed data store 170 and a distributed queue 175. The distributed data store 170 and the distributed queue 175 may be provided through a separate memory node 180, which is communicatively coupled to and accessed by computing nodes 160₁-160_P. For this embodiment, a data store 182 for storage of the malicious objects (hereinafter “object data store”) may be provided in memory node 180. Alternatively, as shown, it is contemplated that the distributed data store 170 and the distributed queue 175 may be provided as a collection of synchronized memories within the computing nodes 160₁-160_P (e.g., synchronized data stores 170₁-170_P that collectively form distributed data store 170; synchronized queues 175₁-175_P that collectively form distributed queue 175 where each of the queues 175₁-175_P is synchronized to store the same information), each accessible by the computing nodes 160₁-160_P respectively. The distributed data store 170 (formed by local data stores 170₁-170_P operating in accordance with a selected memory coherence protocol) are accessible by the computing nodes 160₁-160_P, and thus, data stores 170₁-170_P may be configured to store the same information. Alternatively, the data stores 170₁-170_P may be configured to store different information, provided the collective information is available to all of the computing nodes 160₁-160_P in the same cluster 150₁.

Referring still to FIG. 1A, a management system 185 may be communicatively coupled to the computing nodes 160₁-160_P, where such communications allow for an exchange of information. For instance, the management system 185 may be coupled to the interconnects 165, which provide coupling between the computing nodes 160₁-160_P of each of the clusters 150₁-150_N. As a result, the management system 185 may be configured to receive local threat (malware) signatures generated by an object analysis system of a specific computing node (e.g., computing node 160_P), and thereafter, proliferate these signatures to other computing nodes 160₁-160_P−1 and/or other clusters 150₂-150_N throughout the malware detection system 100.

In order to provide sufficient processing capabilities to the sensors 110₁-110_M deployed throughout the network 120, the centralized analysis system 140 is scalable by allowing a flexible clustering scheme for computing nodes as well as allowing for the number of clusters to be increased or decreased in accordance with system processing capability. Stated differently, one or more computing nodes (e.g., computing node 160_P+1) may be added to the cluster 150₁ based on an increase in the current workload of the malware detection system 100. Likewise, one or more computing nodes may be removed from the cluster 150₁, now forming computing nodes 160₁-160_P−1, based on a decrease in the current workload.

As an optional feature, one or more of the clusters 150₁-150_N may be configured with reporting logic 184 to provide alerts to a customer such as a network administrator 190 of the customer for example, that identify degradation of the operability of that cluster. For example, the reporting logic (illustrated in FIG. 1 as “customer alert logic 184”) may be configured to monitor metadata within at least one of the queue 175₁ (when the contents of each queue 175₁-175_P are identical) for metadata approaching a timeout condition (e.g., where the amount of time that the metadata has been retained in the queue 175₁, sometimes referred to as “metadata queuing time,” exceeds a timeout value (e.g., the amount of time remaining to conduct a malware analysis on the object corresponding to the metadata). Herein, a selected time threshold (e.g. within a number of minutes, hours, etc.) is set for the cluster 150₁, where the threshold may be a fixed time, a variable time that is based on cluster size or other factors such as subscription level or customer preference. Accordingly, upon detecting that a certain number of queued metadata entries will potentially experience a timeout condition within the selected time threshold, the customer alert logic 184 transmits an alert signal to the customer reporting a potential degradation in cluster performance. The alert signal identifies to the customer that procurement of additional computing nodes for the cluster 150₁ may be warranted to avoid anticipated degradation in performance by the cluster 150₁.

Referring to FIG. 1B, a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of logic implemented within the sensor 110₁ deployed within the malware detection system 100 of FIG. 1A is shown. For this embodiment, the sensor 110₁ comprises one or more hardware processors 191 (referred to as “processor(s)”), a non-transitory storage medium 192, and one or more network interfaces 193 (e.g., wireless transceivers, wired connectors for network connectivity, etc.). These components are at least partially encased in a housing 194, which may be made entirely or partially of a rigid material (e.g., hard plastic, metal, glass, composites, or any combination thereof) that protects these components from environmental conditions. One example of processor(s) 191 may include an Intel® (x86) central processing unit (CPU) with an instruction set architecture. Alternatively, processor(s) 191 may include another type of CPUs, a digital signal processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or any other hardware component with data processing capability.

The processor(s) 191 is a multi-purpose, processing component that is configured to execute logic 195-196 maintained within the non-transitory storage medium 192 that is operating as a data store. As described below, the logic 195 may include, but is not limited or restricted to packet analysis logic that conducts an analysis of at least a portion of the intercepted or copied data traffic to determine whether an object within the data traffic is suspicious. This preliminary analysis is conducted to determine, at least for most data types, whether to provide the object to the computing nodes for more in-depth malware analysis. Additionally, the non-transitory storage medium 192 may include cluster enrollment logic 196 which, when executed, supports the handshaking signaling necessary for the sensor 110₁ to join a cluster as well as support continued communications with an enrollment service and/or management system 185 to re-evaluate whether the sensor 110₁ should remain in communication with a particular cluster, and more specifically, with a particular broker computing node, as shown in FIG. 1A.

III. Cluster Formation

Referring to FIG. 2A, a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the formation of a cluster 150₁ of computing nodes within the malware detection system 100 of FIG. 1A is shown, independent on whether the cluster formation is applicable to an asynchronous load balancing architecture of FIGS. 1-7 or a synchronous load balancing architecture of FIGS. 8-10. Herein, responsive to a triggering event (e.g., activation, installation within the malware detection system 100, receipt of signaling associated with workload re-balancing, etc.), a first computing node 160₁ engages in a handshaking scheme with the management system 185. During the handshaking scheme, a credential exchange occurs between the management system 185 and the first computing node 160₁.

As an illustrative example, during the handshaking scheme, the first computing node 160₁ issues a request message 200 to the management system 185. The request message 200 includes authentication credentials 205 associated with the first computing node 160₁. The authentication credentials 205 may include, but is not limited or restricted to a public key (PUK_CN1) 210 associated with the first computing node 160₁. Additionally, or in the alternative, the authentication credentials 205 may include an identifier for the computing node (e.g., source media access control “MAC” address, assigned device name, etc.), an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computing node, and/or an administrator password (in the event that requisite permission is needed from a network administrator for creating a cluster).

In response to receipt of the request message 200, the management system 185 may provide its authentication credentials 220 (e.g., at least its public key “PUK_MS” 225) to the first computing node 160₁. As a result, both the first computing node 160₁ and the management system 185 possess keying material for use in establishing secure communications for transmission of a message requesting to join a cluster of the malware detection system. One type of secure communications includes a secure channel 230 formed in accordance with a cryptographic, public-private key exchange protocol referred to as “Secure Shell” (SSH-2). The secure channel 230 is now used in the transmission of information between the management system 185 and the first computing node 160₁.

In general, to establish secure communications, the same operations may be conducted for other newly added computing nodes, such as a second computing node 160₂ and a third computing node 160₃, where the management system 185 may utilize authentication credentials provided from the second computing node 160₂ and the third computing node 160₃ (e.g., PUK_CN2 215 and PUK_CN3 217) to establish secure communications 235 and 237 therewith.

Expanding an existing cluster with an additional computing node will now be explained. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2B, the second computing node 160₂ may seek to join a cluster of the malware detection system 100 which has an active cluster 150₁. More specifically, subsequent to the handshaking scheme described in FIG. 2A, the second computing node 160₂ may initiate a request message 240 (obfuscated using PUK_MS 225) over the secure channel 235 to join a cluster. In response to receipt of the request message 240, the management system 185 attempts, when applicable, to analyze the workload of each active cluster and/or certain features and capabilities of the computing nodes operating within the cluster. This analysis may involve a review of analytic data pertaining to the processing of suspicious objects (e.g., current processor utilization of each computing node within the cluster, number of timeout events representing delayed processing of the suspicious objects, etc.) and the features and capabilities of the cluster's computing nodes (e.g., object types supported, guest images supported, sensor types supported, geographic location, or subscription level supported where different computing nodes with potential different capabilities are assigned based on subscription level). Cluster selection may be performed by selection based on highest average processor utilization for the computing nodes within a cluster, highest maximum processor utilization by any computing node in a cluster, highest average or maximum of timeout events for a cluster, or the like.

Formation of a new cluster will now be described. Where the malware detection system 100 has no active clusters, the management system 185 may assign the second computing node 160₂ to a newly formed cluster (e.g., cluster 150₁) and add the public key of the second computing node 160₂ (PUK_CN2) 215 to a stored listing of public keys 250 (hereinafter “public key listing 250”) associated with the cluster 150₁. The management system 185 maintains the public key listing 250 (e.g., an organized collection of public keys), which is used to identify all of the computing nodes that are part of the cluster 150₁. Thereafter, the management system 185 provides the public key listing 250 to the second computing node 160₂. It is contemplated that, upon creation of the cluster 150₁, the management system 185 assigns an identifier 260 (e.g., string of alphanumeric characters that represent a name of the cluster 150₁) for the cluster 150₁. The cluster identifier 260 may be provided with the public key listing 250 as well.

Alternatively, where the second computing node 160₂ is seeking to join one of a plurality of active clusters (i.e., where secure channels 230 and 237 have already been established prior to establishing secure channel 235), the management system 185 analyzes the workload for each active cluster, as described above. Based on the analyzed workload, the management system 185 assigns the second computing node 160₂ to a selected cluster (e.g., cluster 150₁) and adds the PUK_CN2 215 of the second computing node 160₂ to the public key listing 250 associated with the selected cluster 150₁.

Additionally, the management system 185 provides one or more notification messages 270 to all computing nodes of the selected cluster 150₁ (e.g., computing nodes 160₁-160₃) of a change in the public key listing 250, which denotes expansion or contraction of the cluster 150₁. The notification messages 270 include the public key listing 250 (i.e., as a link or the listing itself) to each of the computing nodes (e.g., computing nodes 160₁-160₃) that are part of the cluster 150₁. The notification messages 270 may be sent concurrently or sequentially. Alternatively, the notification messages 270 may merely notify the computing nodes 160₁-160₃ of an updated publication of the public key listing 250, where the public key listing 250 is published and available for retrieval by the computing nodes (computing nodes 160₁-160₃ as shown).

As a result, each of the computing nodes (e.g., computing nodes 160₁-160₃ as shown) that collectively form the cluster 150₁ has access to public key information associated with all other computing nodes within that cluster. Hence, depending on the assigned roles of the computing nodes as described below, a “broker” computing node (e.g., computing node 160₁) is capable of establishing secured communications 280 and 285 with other computing nodes (e.g., computing nodes 160₂ and 160₃).

Hence, the assignment of role responsibility for the computing nodes is one of the operations performed when forming or adjusting the configuration of a cluster. Herein, the management system 185 may configure each computing node as either a “broker” computing node or an “analytic” computing node. A number of factors may be used by the management system 185 in determining what role to assign the computing node. Some of these factors may include, but are not limited or restricted to (i) public network (Internet) connectivity i.e. sensors enrolled with a cluster can be deployed in different geographical locations and these geographically distributed sensors must be able to access broker computing nodes over the Internet or WAN (however, ‘analytic’ computing nodes may not be exposed to the Internet or WAN); (ii) anticipated or current workload (e.g., queue utilization, processor utilization, number of analyses being conducted, ratio between number of analyses and timeout events, etc.); (iii) capability to replicate shared job queue across multiple broker computing nodes; (iv) capacity in terms of number of guest image instances or types of guest image instances supported; (v) types of guest-images supported (e.g., type/version of application program, type/version of operating system, etc.) especially where different computing nodes are dedicated to analysis of a certain object type in a certain operating environment (e.g., a single application/OS version, multiple application versions and single OS version, multiple application/OS versions, single application and multiple OS versions); (vi) geographical location (e.g., computing node in same geographic region as the sensor such as continent, country, region, district, county, state, etc.; and (vii) compatibility with different types of sensors (e.g., by model, by original equipment manufacturer, by storage capacity, by capability such as handling web traffic, email traffic, etc.); (ix) type of objects analyzed by the particular broker computing node (where certain nodes are dedicated to analysis certain object types (e.g., webpage/URL, emails), or (x) other factors that may influence the assignment.

As shown in FIG. 2C, each computing node 160₁-160₃ of FIGS. 2A-2B includes an analysis coordination system 290₁-290₃ and an object analysis system 295₁-295₃, respectively. As shown, the management system 185 may configure computing node 160₁ as a “broker” computing node by enabling its analysis coordination system 290₁. Similarly, the management system 185 may configure computing nodes 160₂ and 160₃ as “analytic” computing nodes by disabling (rendering inactive) their analysis coordination systems 290₂ and 290₃. Each cluster includes at least one “broker” computing node but for high-availability at least two broker computing nodes may be deployed.

Although not shown, an exemplary embodiment of a logical representation of the computing node 160₁ is described. Herein, the computing node 160₁ comprises one or more processors, one or more network interfaces, and logic associated with the analysis coordination system 290₁ and the object analysis system 295₁. The logic may be hardware, software stored in non-transitory storage medium, or firmware. These components may be virtualized software or components at least partially encased in a housing, which may be made entirely or partially of a rigid material. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, when the analysis coordination system 290₁ is activated, the processor(s) supports communications between the analysis coordination system 290₁ and any enrolled sensors (e.g., sensor 110₁).

More specifically, when analysis coordination system 290₁ is activated, the computing node 160₁ is configured to operate as a “broker” computing node, namely a network device that is selected to directly communicate with any or all of the sensors that are assigned to use the cluster that conducts an in-depth malware analysis of a received suspicious object. As a “broker” computing node, the analysis coordination system 290₁ of the computing node 160₁ may be responsible for, inter alia, (i) assigning an identifier (e.g., an identifier unique to the domain) to incoming metadata that is associated with a suspicious object received from a sensor, and (ii) distributing the metadata to a distributed data store, where at least a portion of the metadata may be used by an object analysis system (within the broker computing node or another computing node) to obtain the suspicious object for analysis, as described in U.S. Patent Application entitled “SENSOR ARCHITECTURE FOR A SCALABLE MALWARE DETECTION SYSTEM” filed concurrently herewith (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/283,108), the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference.

Independent of its role (“broker” or “analytic”), each computing node 160₁-160₃ includes an active, object analysis system 295₁-295₃. An object analysis system is configured to conduct in-depth malware analysis on the object. Hence, although the analysis coordination systems 295₂-295₃ of the computing nodes 160₂-160₃ are inactive, the computing nodes 160₂-160₃ are still able to analyze an incoming object to determine whether that object is associated with malware.

Of course, it is contemplated, as an alternative embodiment, that a “broker” computing node may have a logical architecture different than an “analytic” computing node. For example, a broker computing node may be configured with only an analysis coordination system. An analytic computing node may be configured with only an object analysis system.

IV. Enrollment Service

Referring now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of exemplary communications between the sensor 110₁ and a cloud service 300 to obtain tenant credentials for use in sensor enrollment with a cluster is shown. Sensors, once deployed in a customer's environment, periodically call-home and fetch tenant (or customer) specific credentials and a globally unique tenant identifier (tenant ID). Prior to an attempt to establish secure communications with a cluster of the malware detection system 100, the sensor 110₁ transmits a request message 310 for tenant credentials to a credential web server 320 within the cloud service 300. Based on information within the request message 310, the credential web server 320 identifies the sensor 110₁ and assigns tenant credentials for use by the enrollment service for authenticating the sensor 110₁. Sensor 110 uses tenant credentials and the unique tenant ID for authentication with an enrollment service such as the enrollment service 400 of FIG. 4A. The enrollment service is configured to validate tenant credentials directly with credential web server 320 for authorization to use a cluster.

The enrollment service 400 may be highly available in a variety of deployments. For instance, if the enrollment service 400 operates on the management system 185, it is contemplated that a redundant management system deployment may be utilized, where one management system works as a primary system while a second management system operates as a secondary/standby system. In the case of a failover (or takeover), the enrollment service 400 becomes available automatically on the secondary management system that now operates as the primary management system. Alternatively, the enrollment service 400 in the cloud is horizontally scalable against a single DNS name.

According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the sensor 110₁ may automatically transmit the request message 310 upon activation or may transmit the request message 310 based on a manual setting by an administrator when configuring (or re-configuring) one or more clusters of the malware detection system. Besides providing addressing information (e.g., source IP address) that enables the credential web server 320 to return a response message 340, the request message 310 may include information 330 that uniquely identifies the sensor 110₁, such as a device serial number, a source MAC address, or other unique identifier assigned by the particular original equipment manufacturer or software provider (e.g., hash value derived from information that uniquely identifies the sensor 110₁). Herein, the request message 310 may be part of a handshaking protocol to establish secure communications (e.g., HTTPS, HTTP, etc.), and if so, keying material may accompany the request message 310 or may be provided prior to transmission of the request message 310. It is contemplated that the request message 310 may include or accompany information that identifies a customer associated with the sensor 110₁, information that identifies a subscription level of the customer that may affect the features and capabilities returned to the sensor 110₁, or the like.

As shown, the credential web server 320 is adapted to receive the request message 310 from the sensor 110₁, and in response, extract the information 330 that uniquely identifies the sensor 110₁. Upon obtaining the information 330, the credential web server 320 generates a tenant credentials 350 associated with the sensor 110₁. The tenant credentials 350 includes a unique identifier (tenant ID) 360 that is used by the enrollment service for authentication of the sensor 110₁, when the sensor 110₁ seeks access to a particular cluster managed, at least in part, by the enrollment service. The unique identifier 360 may be generated based, at least in part, on the information provided with the request message 310, or may be generated randomly or pseudo-randomly by the credential web server 320. It is contemplated that the tenant credentials 350 may include information that identifies that the sensor 110₁ (or entity associated with the sensor 110₁) has an active subscription to the services offered by the cluster to which the sensor seeks access and the subscription level assigned to the sensor 110₁.

It is contemplated that sensor 110₁ may obtain the address of the enrollment service 400 using any number of techniques to set the address of the enrollment service 400 within the sensor 110₁. For instance, as an illustrative example, the sensor 110₁ may be configured (at manufacture or in the field) with a default address setting that includes a well-defined domain name server (DNS) as the public address of a public enrollment service. As another illustrative example, where the sensor 110₁ is managed by the management system 185, the sensor 110₁ may be configured with an address (e.g., IP address) of the management system 185, acquired from the management system 185 (described below), for use in lieu of the public address (DNS). As another illustrative example, the sensor 110₁ may be configured by a network administrator who manually changes the enrollment service address to a desired address. Independent of the setting technique, the sensor 110₁ is configured to support connectivity with the enrollment service 400.

A. Management Device Based Enrollment Service

Referring to FIG. 4A, a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a communication exchange between sensor 110₁ and an enrollment service 400 provided by the management system 185 is shown. Herein, each broker computing node within a cluster, such as broker computing node 160₁ within the cluster 150₁, is configured to advertise its features and capabilities 410 to the enrollment service 400 through unsolicited transmission (push) or solicited transmission from the computing node 160₁ (pull). These features and capabilities 410 may include (i) the IP address for the broker computing node 160₁, (ii) the host name of the broker computing node 160₁, (iii) the host fingerprint that includes a public key (PUK_CN1) of the broker computing node 160₁, and/or (iv) a connection load (e.g., number of sensors supported by the broker computing node 160₁), (v) cluster location (geographic), (vi) cluster type (e.g. Production, POV, Beta etc.), (vii) supported sensor types/versions, (viii) cluster capacity (e.g., storage, supported transmission rates, maximum number of sensors supported, workload information such as current workload, maximum workload supported, or remaining workload available, etc.), (ix) supported types of guest-images, and/or (x) other features and capabilities in which a sensor can be interested in such as the particular object types supported. Some of these features and capabilities 410 can be uploaded into the computing node 160₁ via a graphic user interface (GUI) or management console by a network administrator. It is noted that a sensor can request a cluster with a set of required and/or preferred capabilities or attributes and the enrollment service can perform matchmaking between sensor request and the advertised features of published clusters.

The advertised features and capabilities 410 (along with any other features and capabilities from other broker computing nodes) are maintained by the enrollment service 400. The enrollment service 400 considers one or more of the advertised features and capabilities of one or more computing nodes for selecting a particular broker computing node to support the sensor 110₁ requesting access to cluster 150₁. Upon selecting the particular broker computing node (e.g., broker computing node 160₁), the enrollment service 400 returns at least a portion of the features and capabilities 410 to the requesting sensor 110₁.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 4A, the sensor 110₁ issues one or more request messages 420 (e.g., represented as “CLUSTER_REQ( ) message”) to the management system 185 as part of the handshaking protocol for establishing communications with the cluster 150₁. The CLUSTER_REQ( ) message 420 may include information 422 associated with the sensor 110₁, such as the tenant credentials 350 of FIG. 3 and/or keying material that is used for establishing secure communications between the sensor 110₁ and the management system 185.

In response to receipt of the CLUSTER_REQ( ) message 420 and after analysis of the features and capabilities of the available broker computing nodes, the management system 185 returns one or more response message 425 (e.g., represented as “CLUSTER_RSP( ) message”) to the sensor 110₁. The CLUSTER_RSP( ) message 425 provides address information 430 for accessing the enrollment service 400 where, according to this embodiment of the disclosure, the address information 430 may include an address (e.g., IP address) or a Domain Name System (DNS) name of the management system 185 as the address of enrollment service 400 that is available on the management system. Additionally, the CLUSTER_RSP( ) message 425 may further include keying material 432 associated with the management system 185 to establish secured communications (e.g., HTTPS secure channel) with the management system 185.

In a response to receipt of the CLUSTER_RSP( ) message 425, the sensor 110₁ issues one or more enrollment request messages 440 (e.g., represented as “ENROLL_REQ( ) message”) to the enrollment service 400 via the HTTPS secure channel, which may be established based on the exchange of keying material during the handshaking protocol (e.g., exchange of CLUSTER_REQ( ) message 420 and CLUSTER_RSP( ) message 425). The ENROLL_REQ( ) message 440 may include the tenant credentials 350 of FIG. 3. Upon receipt of the ENROLL_REQ( ) message 440, the enrollment service 400 extracts the tenant credentials 350 to authenticate the sensor 110₁ and determine that the sensor 110₁ is authorized to communicate with the cluster 150₁.

More specifically, before selecting of the particular broker computing node, using a portion of the tenant credentials 350, the enrollment service 400 may conduct a subscription check of the sensor 110₁ to determine whether the customer associated with the sensor 110₁ has an active subscription to a particular service being requested (if not already conducted by the credential web server 320 of FIG. 3) and/or when the subscription is set to expire. The conveyance of the subscription information may be conducted through a variety of schemes, such as a message including a customer identifier and information that identifies subscription status. For example, the ENROLL_REQ( ) message 440 may include, separate or part of the tenant credentials 350, (i) a field that identifies a customer associated with the sensor 110₁, (ii) a field that is set to a prescribed value when the sensor 110₁ is associated with an active subscription, and/or (iii) a field that is set to identify an expiration time of the subscription or a duration of the subscription. As a result, the enrollment service 400 residing in a management system (see FIGS. 4A-4B and 6) or a web server (see FIG. 5) may be configured to monitor (periodically or aperiodically) the subscription status of the sensor 110₁.

Herein, both the sensor 110₁ and the enrollment service 400 may check if the subscription is active and update-to-date. As soon as any of them detects that the subscription is not active anymore, the sensor 110₁ disconnects itself from the broker computing node 160₁ of the cluster 150₁ and sends an Un-enrollment request (not shown) to the enrollment service 400. Thereafter, the enrollment service 400 removes the authenticated keying material for the sensor 110₁ from one or more broker computing nodes in communication with the sensor 110₁. Once the sensor authenticated keying material is removed from the broker computing node 160₁, the broker computing node 160₁ will not accept the connections from the sensor 110₁ until a new enrollment process for the sensor 110₁ is conducted.

Additionally, besides whether the subscription is active for the sensor 110₁, the enrollment service 400 may determine a type of subscription assigned to the sensor 110₁. More specifically, the enrollment service may further determine the subscription level assigned to the sensor 110₁ (e.g., basic with entry level malware analysis, premium with more robust malware analysis such as increased analysis time per object, increased guest images supported, prescribed quality of service greater than offered with basic subscription, access to computing nodes dedicated to processing certain object types, etc.). Such information may be relied upon for selection of the broker computing node by the enrollment service 400.

Where the sensor 110₁ is not authenticated, the enrollment service 400 does not respond to the ENROLL_REQ( ) message 440 or returns a first type of enrollment response message 450 (e.g., represented as “ENROLL_ERROR( )” message as shown) that identifies the sensor 110₁ has not been authenticated or not authorized. However, upon authenticating the sensor 110₁, the enrollment service 400 is configured to forward (send) the keying material 422 associated with the sensor 110₁ to the broker computing node 160₁. The enrollment service 400 is also configured to return an enrollment response message 460 (e.g., represented as “ENROLL_RSP( ) message”) to the sensor 110₁. The ENROLL_RSP( ) message 460 includes a portion of features and capabilities 410 of the selected broker computing node (e.g., broker computing node 160₁), such as the IP address 462 for the broker computing node 160₁, the name 464 of the broker computing node 160₁, and/or authentication information 466 (e.g., passwords, keying material, etc.) associated with the broker computing node 160₁ of the cluster 150₁.

Upon receipt of the portion of features and capabilities 410 for the selected broker computing node 160₁, the sensor 110₁ is now able to establish a secure communication path 470 to the broker computing node 160₁. Thereafter, according to one embodiment of the disclosure, the sensor 110₁ may submit metadata associated with any detected suspicious objects, where the broker computing node 160₁ determines from the metadata whether a suspicious object has been previously analyzed, and if not, queues the metadata for subsequent use in retrieval of the suspicious object for an in-depth malware analysis by the broker computing node 160₁ or in any of the computing nodes 160₂ and 160₃ that is part of the cluster 150₁. The in-depth malware analysis may involve static, dynamic or emulation analysis, as generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,223,972, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference.

Referring now to FIG. 4B, a block diagram illustrating an exemplary load rebalancing scheme between the sensor 110₁ and enrollment service 400 deployed within the management system 185 is shown. Herein, the sensor node 110₁ may periodically or aperiodically issue a Status Request message (“STATUS_REQ( )”) 480 to the enrollment service 400. The Status Request message 480 is responsible for confirming that the sensor 110₁ remains in communication with the cluster 150₁ and, more specifically, the broker computing node 160₁, as shown in FIG. 4B. When periodic, the Status Request message 480 may be issued in response to a predetermined amount of time (programmable or static) has elapsed since communications between the sensor 110₁ and the broker computing node 160₁ were established in order to potentially rebalance the sensor-broker assignments. When aperiodic, for example, the Status Request message 480 may be issued in response to a triggered event that causes reallocation of the sensor 110₁ to a different broker computing node or different cluster within the malware detection system 100 for automatic rebalancing of sensors across multiple broker computing nodes. Examples of the triggering event may include, but is not limited or restricted to (i) a detected failure rate above a certain threshold experienced by the sensor 110₁ such as failed communications with the broker computing node 160₁, (ii) detected disconnectivity between the sensor 110₁ and the broker computing node 160₁, (iii) detected capacity levels (max or min thresholds) of the broker computing node 160₁ have been reached, (iv) detected degradation in operation for the sensor 110₁ and/or broker computing node 160₁ that exceeds a threshold (e.g., reduced operability, failure, processor utilization exceeding a threshold, etc.), (v) non-compliance with subscription service levels (e.g., quality of service “QoS” levels, etc.) or (vi) other factors that would warrant re-evaluation of the sensor/broker configuration. Hence, the Status Request message 480 may be used to effectively re-enroll the sensor 110₁ to the cluster 150₁.

In the event that the workload of the broker computing node 160₁ is substantially larger than another broker computing node within the cluster 150₁, it is contemplated that the enrollment service 400 may redirect communications from the sensor 110₁ to another broker computing node within the cluster 150₁ (or even a different cluster) in lieu of the broker computing node 160₁. In this regard, in response to receipt of the Status Request message 480, the enrollment service 400 issues a Status Response 485 (“STATUS_RSP( )”). The STATUS_RSP( ) message 485 may include a portion of features and capabilities for the same computing node 160₁ or for another broker computing node selected to communicate with sensor 110₁ (e.g., computing node 160₂ with its analysis coordination system 290₂ activated and operating as a broker computing node), such as the IP address 490 for the broker computing node 160₂, (ii) the name 492 of the broker computing node 160₂, and/or authentication information 494 (e.g., passwords, keying material, etc.) associated with the broker computing node 160₂ of the cluster 150₁.

B. Web-Based Enrollment Service

Referring to FIG. 5, a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the enrollment service 400 that is provided by a web server 510 within a public or private cloud configuration 500 is shown. In contrast to sensor 110₁ establishing communications with the management system 185 in order to obtain the location of the enrollment service 400 as illustrated in FIG. 4A, an address for accessing the enrollment service 400 within the public (or private) cloud 500 is published and made available to network devices having access to the cloud 500 (e.g., made available via dedicated communication sessions or broadcasts, electronic lookup at a dedicated website or IP address, etc.). Herein, although not shown, the enrollment service 400 is configured to receive information concerning the broker computing nodes via management system 185 or directly from the broker computing nodes (e.g., broker computing node 160₁) with public network connectivity.

As shown in FIG. 5 (similar to FIG. 4A), the enrollment service 400 is configured to receive WEB_ENROLL_REQ( ) message 520 from the sensor 110₁, where the WEB_ENROLL_REQ( ) message 520 includes the tenant credentials 350 as described above. In response, the enrollment service 400 returns a WEB_ENROLL_RSP( ) message 530. The WEB_ENROLL_RSP( ) message 530 includes a portion of features and capabilities 540 of a broker computing node selected by the enrollment service 400 (e.g., computing node 160₁), such as the IP address 462 for the broker computing node 160₁, (ii) the name 464 of the broker computing node 160₁, and/or (iii) authentication information 466 (e.g., passwords, keying material, etc.) associated with the broker computing node 160₁ of the cluster 150₁, as previously described.

From the features and capabilities 540 of the selected broker computing node information contained in the WEB_ENROLL_RSP( ) message 530, the sensor node 110₁ establishes a secure (HTTPS) communication path 550 with the selected broker computing node 160₁ located in cloud 500. Thereafter, as described above, the sensor 110₁ may submit metadata associated with any detected suspicious object, where the broker computing node 160₁ determines from the metadata whether the suspicious object has been previously analyzed. If not, the broker computing node 160₁ coordinates the retrieval of the suspicious object and the handling of an in-depth malware analysis of the suspicious object. The malware analysis may be performed by the broker computing node 160₁ or any available computing node operating in the cluster 150₁.

C. Multiple Management Device Based Enrollment Service

Referring to FIG. 6, a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communication exchange between the sensor 110₁ and multiple management systems 600 and 610 is shown. Herein, according to this embodiment of the cluster 150₁, a first management system 600 is configured to manage operability of the sensors 110₁-110_M while a second management system 610 is configured to manage the operability of the computing nodes 160₁-160_P forming cluster 150₁.

In accordance with this embodiment of the disclosure, the enrollment service 400 is provided by the second management system 610. Being configured to manage sensor operability, the first management system 600 operates as a proxy for a request for enrollment service received from the sensors 110₁-110_M. More specifically, the sensor 110₁ issues one or more request messages 620 (herein, “CLUSTER_REQ( ) message”) to the first management system 600, as described in FIG. 4A. In response to receipt of the CLUSTER_REQ( ) message 620, however, the management system 600 returns one or more response message 625 (herein, “CLUSTER_RSP( ) message”) to the sensor 110₁. The CLUSTER_RSP( ) message 625 provides address information 630 for accessing the enrollment service 400 operating as part of the second management system 610, where the address information 630 may include an IP address of the second management system 610 or DNS name of the second management system 610. Additionally, the CLUSTER_RSP( ) message 625 may include keying material 632 associated with the second management system 610 that allows the sensor 110₁ to establish secured communications (e.g., HTTPS secure channel) with the second management system 610.

Thereafter, the sensor 110₁ issues one or more enrollment request messages 640 (herein, “ENROLL_REQ( ) message”) to the enrollment service 400, perhaps via the HTTPS secure channel pre-established between the sensor 110₁ and the second management system 620. The ENROLL_REQ( ) message 640 may include the tenant credentials 350 of FIG. 3. Upon receipt of the ENROLL_REQ( ) message 640, the enrollment service 400 extracts the tenant credentials 350 to authenticate the sensor 110₁ and determine whether the sensor 110₁ is authorized to communicate with the cluster 150₁.

Where the sensor 110₁ is not authenticated, the enrollment service 400 does not respond to the ENROLL_REQ( ) message 640 or returns an enrollment response message that identifies a communication error (not shown), as described above.

However, upon authenticating the sensor 110₁, the enrollment service 400 is configured to forward keying material 622 associated with the sensor 110₁ to a broker computing node selected by the enrollment service 400 for operating in cooperation with sensor 110₁ (e.g. broker computing node 160₁). The enrollment service 400 is also configured to return an enrollment response message 660 (e.g., herein, “ENROLL_RSP( )” message) to the sensor 110₁. The ENROLL_RSP( ) message 660 includes a portion of features and capabilities 410 of the selected broker computing node (e.g., broker computing node 160₁), as described above.

Thereafter, the sensor 110₁ is in secure communications with broker computing node 160₁ to receive metadata and corresponding suspicious objects for malware analysis.

V. Operability Management

Referring now to FIG. 7, a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the handling of results 700 produced by the object analysis system 295₁ of the computing node 160₂ is shown. Herein, the results 700 include information that identifies whether a suspicious object, provided by the sensor 110₁ to the object analysis system 295₂ of the computing node 160₂ for analysis, is associated with malware. The results 700 are stored in the distributed data store 170 that is accessible to all of the computing nodes 160₁-160₃, including broker computing node 160₁ that is communicatively coupled to the “analytic” computing node 160₂ via a (secure) communication path 720.

Herein, the sensor 110₁ may be configured to transmit status messages 730 to the broker computing node 160₁. The transmission of the status messages 730 may be periodic or aperiodic in response to a triggering event such as a timeout event that denotes expiration of a time period allocated for the malware analysis of a particular suspicious object. In response to receipt of the status message 730, the broker computing node 160₁ extracts information from the status message 730, namely a unique identifier 740 associated with the submitted suspicious object. Using the identifier 740, the broker computing node 160₁ accesses the distributed data store 170 recover analysis results 700 performed by status analysis logic, dynamic analysis logic or emulation analysis logic within the object analysis system 295₂ of the computing node 160₂ to determine whether or not the suspicious object is associated with malware.

Upon determining that the results 700 for the identified suspicious object have been produced and are stored in the distributed data store 170, the broker computing node 160₁ transmits the results 700 to the sensor 110₁. Upon receipt of the results 700, the sensor 110₁ may provide an aggregate of the analysis results (referred to as “aggregation results 750”), which includes results 700, to the management system 185. It is contemplated that, as an alternative embodiment, the broker computing node 160₁ may transmit at least a portion of the results 700 to the management system 185 in lieu of transmission via the sensor 110₁.

Based on the content of the aggregated analysis results 700, the management system 185 may generate an alert 760 via a wired or wireless transmitter (not shown) to notify a network administrator (see FIG. 1A) or other entities as to the detection of malware. Additionally, or in the alternative, the management system 185 may provide at least a portion of the results 700 to another management system (not shown) that monitors the health and operability of the network 120 or to a forensics analysis system for further detailed analysis as to confirm that the suspicious object is associated with malware and the nature of the malware. Also, the management system 185 may receive a signature generated by the computing node 160₂ during analysis of the suspicious object as part of the aggregated analysis results 750, or may generate a signature for propagation through the enterprise network 120 of FIG. 1A.

Referring to FIG. 8, a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a cluster 800 solely including a single broker computing node 810 (e.g., broker computing node 160₁ of FIG. 1A) in communications with a single sensor 820 (e.g., sensor 110₁ of FIG. 1A) is shown. Herein, the sensor 820 provides metadata 840 associated with a suspicious object 850 to the broker computing node 810 (analysis coordination system), which determines from the metadata 840 whether or not the suspicious object 850 has been analyzed. If so, the results 860 from the prior analysis are provided to the sensor 820.

In the event that the metadata 840 indicates that the suspicious object 850 has not been analyzed, the broker computing node 810 obtains the metadata 840 and utilizes the metadata 840 to obtain the suspicious object 850. The suspicious object 850 may be stored in a local data store of the sensor 820 or in a data store accessible by the sensor 820.

Upon receipt of the suspicious object 850, the broker computing node 810 (object analysis system) conducts one or more analyses (e.g., static analysis, dynamic analysis, and/or emulation analysis) on the suspicious object 850 to determine whether the suspicious object 850 is associated with malware. If so, results 880 from the one or more analyses are stored within the distributed data store 170, which is accessible by the sensor 820 through one or more status messages 870, as illustrated as status messages 730 in FIG. 7. In response to a determination that the results 880 are present in the distributed data store 170 and are available for retrieval, the broker computing node 810 returns the results 880 to the sensor 820, which includes logic that can issue alerts 890 in lieu of the alerts being issued by the management system 185 of FIG. 7.

In the foregoing description, the invention is described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. However, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A computerized method for enrollment of a sensor for communications with a selected computing node of a cluster operating within a malware detection system, comprising: receiving advertised features and capabilities for one or more broker computing nodes within the cluster by an enrollment service operating within a management system;sending a first message to a sensor by the management system, the first message includes address information associated with the enrollment service;in response to the first message, receiving a second message from the sensor, the second message includes tenant credentials that includes an identifier for the sensor for use by the enrollment service in authenticating the sensor;determining a selected computing node for communications with the sensor based on consideration of the features and capabilities for the one or more broker computing nodes within the cluster and the tenant credentials associated with the sensor; andupon authenticating the sensor by the enrollment service, sending keying material associated with the sensor to the selected computing node operating as a first broker computing node of the one or more broker computing nodes and sending a portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first broker computing node to the sensor.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the sending of the keying material associated with the sensor to the selected computing node and the sending of the portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first broker computing node to the sensor enables the sensor to establish a secure communication path with the first broker computing node, wherein the secure communication path allows the sensor to operate in cooperation with the first broker computing node by conducting a preliminary evaluation of an object, being a portion of information received by the sensor over a network, to determine whether the object is suspicious and provide the object to the first broker computing node for in-depth malware analysis by the cluster.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the enrollment service includes a daemon application running on the management system.

4. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a third message by the enrollment service from the sensor in response to a triggering event, the third message being used by the enrollment service to assess whether the sensor is to continue communications with the cluster via the first broker computing node; andredirecting the sensor to a second broker computing node different than the first broker computing node for subsequent communications with the cluster, the redirecting of the sensor includes transmitting a fourth message that includes advertised features and capabilities for the second broker computing node within the cluster.

5. The computerized method of claim 4, wherein the triggering event includes expiration of an amount of time during which the sensor is in communication with the first broker computing node.

6. The computerized method of claim 4, wherein the triggering event includes detected degradation in operability of the first broker computing node by the sensor.

7. The computerized method of claim 6, wherein the degradation of operability includes a rate of communication failures between the sensor and the first broker computing node exceeding a prescribed threshold.

8. The computerized method of claim 4, wherein the triggering event includes non-compliance with a subscription service level associated with the sensor.

9. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein prior to sending the first message to the sensor, the method further comprises receiving a message from the sensor, the message requesting to join the cluster; andconducting a subscription check on the sensor to determine whether a customer associated with the sensor has an active subscription to a particular service provided by the cluster.

10. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein prior to sending the first message to the sensor and after receiving the message requesting to join the cluster, the method further comprises determining a subscription level assigned to the sensor, the subscription level being used as a factor for selection of the selected computing node as the first broker computing node.

11. A computerized method for enrollment of a sensor for communications with a selected computing node of a cluster operating within a malware detection system, comprising: authenticating the sensor by an enrollment service;upon authenticating the sensor by the enrollment service, selecting a computing node to operate as a first broker computing node for communications between the cluster and the sensor based on consideration of features and capabilities for one or more broker computing nodes including the first broker computing node within the cluster and information provided by the sensor for authenticating the sensor; andsending keying material associated with the sensor to the selected computing node operating as the first broker computing node and sending a portion of advertised features and capabilities associated with the first broker computing node to the sensor for use an establishment of a secure communication path between the sensor and the first broker computing node.

12. The computerized method of claim 11 further comprising: establishing of the secure communication path between the sensor and the first broker computing node; andconduct, by the sensor, a preliminary evaluation of an object that includes a portion of information received by the sensor over a network, the preliminary evaluation to determine whether the object is suspicious and provide the suspicious object to the first broker computing node for in-depth malware analysis by the cluster.

13. The computerized method of claim 11, wherein the enrollment service that authenticates the sensor is deployed in a web server separate from the cluster that includes the first broker computing node.

14. The computerized method of claim 11, wherein the portion of features and capabilities associated with the first broker computing node includes (i) an IP address for the first broker computing node, or (ii) a name of the first broker computing node, or (iii) authentication information associated with the first broker computing node of the cluster.

15. The computerized method of claim 11, wherein the keying material includes a public key of the sensor.

16. The computerized method of claim 11, wherein prior selecting the computing node, the method further comprises receiving a message from the sensor, the message requesting to join the cluster; andconducting a subscription check of the sensor to determine whether a customer associated with the sensor has an active subscription to a particular service provided by the cluster.

17. The computerized method of claim 16, wherein after conducting the subscription check and prior to sending the keying material associated with the sensor to the selected computing node and sending the portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first broker computing node to the sensor, the method further comprising determining the selected computing node for communications with the sensor based on consideration of the features and capabilities for the one or more broker computing nodes within the cluster and the tenant credentials of the sensor.

18. The computerized method of claim 16, wherein prior selecting the computing node, the method further comprises determining a subscription level assigned to the sensor, the subscription level being used as a factor for selection of the selected computing node as the first broker computing node.

19. A system comprising: a sensor to (i) receive information over a network, the sensor to conduct a preliminary evaluation of one or more objects each including a portion of the information received by the sensor and (ii) determine whether any of the one or more objects is suspicious;a first computing node; anda management system communicatively coupled to the sensor and the first computing node, the management system includes an enrollment service that (i) receives advertised features and capabilities for the first computing node and tenant credentials from the sensor, (ii) provides address information associated with the enrollment service to the sensor, (iii) determines the first computing node for communications with the sensor based on consideration of the features and capabilities for one or more computing nodes within a cluster including the first computing node and the tenant credentials associated with the sensor, (iv) receives and forwards keying material associated with the sensor to the first computing node upon authentication of the sensor, and (v) provides a portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first computing node to the sensor to enable the sensor to establish a secure communication path with the first computing node.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first computing node is one of a plurality of computing nodes forming the cluster operating within a malware detection system to perform malware analysis on a suspicious object provided by the sensor, at least the first computing node operating as a broker computing node for the cluster.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the enrollment service includes a daemon application running on the management system.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the enrollment service is operating within a public or private cloud.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first computing node includes a public key of the first computing node and a number of sensors supported by the first computing node operating as a broker computing node.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first computing node includes a geographical location of the cluster including the first computing node.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first computing node includes a capacity of the cluster including the first computing node.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first computing node identifies sensor types supported by the enrollment service.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the enrollment service of the management system to provide the address information associated with the enrollment service that includes an Internet Protocol address or a Domain Name System name of the management system.

28. The system of claim 19, wherein the enrollment service further (i) receives a first message from the sensor in response to a triggering event for use in determining whether the sensor is to continue communications with the cluster via the first computing node operating as a broker computing node, and (ii) redirects the sensor to a second computing node operating as a broker computing node that is different than the first computing node for subsequent communications with the cluster, the fourth message includes advertised features and capabilities for the second computing node.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the triggering event includes expiration of an amount of time during which the sensor is in communication with the first computing node.

30. A computerized method for enrollment of a sensor for communications with a selected computing node of a cluster operating within a malware detection system, comprising: receiving a request for join the cluster from a sensor;analyzing information associated with a subscription for the sensor for services provided by the cluster; andupon determining (i) that the subscription for the sensor is active by the enrollment service and (ii) a selected computing node for communications with the sensor based on consideration of features and capabilities for one or more broker computing nodes within the cluster and tenant credentials associated with the sensor, sending information associated with the sensor to the selected computing node operating as a first broker computing node of the one or more broker computing nodes and sending a portion of the advertised features and capabilities associated with the first broker computing node to the sensor.

31. The computerized method of claim 30, wherein the analyzing of the information associated with the subscription for the sensor includes analysis of a level of subscription assigned to the sensor, the level of subscription may be used as a factor by the enrollment service in selecting the selected computing node.

32. The computerized method of claim 30, wherein the sending of the portion of the advertised features and capabilities from the enrollment service to the sensor comprises sending one or more of (i) an address of the selected computing node, (ii) a name of the selected computing node, or (iii) information for authenticating the sensor to the selected computing node of the cluster.