Zero-Day Rotating Guest Image Profile

[0001] Embodiments of the disclosure relate to the field of cyber security. More specifically, embodiments of the disclosure relate to a system and method for detecting malicious attacks through virtual processing of a suspect object in accordance with multiple virtual environments.

[0002] Malware detection systems often employ virtual environments to enable potentially malicious objects to be safely analyzed during run-time in one or more sandboxed virtual machines. Each virtual machine is provisioned with a guest image, where the guest image is configured in accordance with a particular software profile. This particular software profile is dependent on the type of object being analyzed. For example, where the object is a web page, the software profile may prescribe a browser application that runs over a specific operating system (e.g., Windows®, Linux®, etc.). As another example, where the object is an electronic message, the software profile may prescribe an email application running over the same or a different operating system (e.g., Microsoft® Mobile®, Blackberry® OS, etc.). The applications and operating systems may be generally referred to as software components, and may differ from one another by software vendor or version number.

[0003] For processing a suspect object, the virtual machine is provisioned with a guest image that features software components for the prescribed software profile. A virtual execution (run-time) environment features the virtual machine along with “activity monitors,” namely software components that are configured to observe and capture run-time behavior of the suspect object during processing within the virtual machine. For example, the activity monitors may be operationally situated to intercept software calls (e.g., function or system calls) made by a software component running in the virtual machine. The configuring of the activity monitors is highly dependent on the type and sometimes the version of the software component.

[0004] The process in developing activity monitors appropriate for certain software components is sometimes referred to as “instrumenting” the software profile. In this regard, instrumentation refers to the ability of a malware detection system to monitor and capture activities during run-time of the object, including both expected and unexpected activities, in order to use these captured activities in classifying the object as malicious or non-malicious (e.g., benign). Such instrumentation does not require monitoring of all functionality, but rather, the monitoring of functionality associated with an attack (or likely to give rise to indicators of compromise).

[0005] As new software components or new versions of currently supported software components are released by the software vendors, new instrumented software profiles need to be developed and tested for these software components. The completion of a fully-instrumented software profile may often require months of development and testing in order to ensure that the activity monitors appropriately capture at least certain predetermined activities associated with malware.

[0006] Given the amount of time necessary to complete a fully-instrumented software profile, malware authors generally have a window of time to develop and deploy new malware that exploits certain unknown vulnerabilities of a newly released software component, namely the period of time between release of the software component and deployment of a guest image configured to accordance with a new, fully-instrumented software profile. Such new malware represents zero-day exploits, that is, malware that exploits a vulnerability that has not been detected previously. Malware detection systems and their instrumented legacy software profiles typically are inadequate in capturing many of the activities caused by zero-day malware, and thus, may fall short in classifying an object as malicious. Of course, conventional anti-virus scanning programs are likely to be totally ineffectual in detecting zero-day exploits since new and sophisticated malware will not correspond to known malware signatures.

[0014] Various embodiments of the disclosure relate to a system and method for detecting malicious attacks, especially zero-day attack exploits, through virtual processing of a suspect object in accordance with collective operations of multiple sandboxed virtual environments. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a first virtual environment is provisioned with a first guest image that is based on an instrumented, legacy software profile, normally the most recent, fully instrumented software profile. A second virtual environment is provisioned with a second guest image that is based on a temporary software profile. This “temporary software profile” is not fully-instrumented, as it relies on legacy activity monitors.

[0015] In order words, the temporary software profile may feature the most recent version of a particular software component (e.g., new version of a browser application, new version of portable document format “PDF” reader, etc.), but relies on activity monitors generated for a legacy software profile developed for a prior version of the software component. As described, the activity monitors may be situated within the guest image (e.g., within the software component itself) or external to the software component though within the guest image (e.g., as a separate process inter-operable, directly or indirectly, with the computer program or its programmatic interfaces to intercept such activities). Alternatively, the activity monitors may be situated external to the guest image, such as being situated within a virtual memory manager (VMM) sometimes referred to as a “hypervisor”.

[0016] As an illustrative example, the system may be deployed as a threat detection platform that performs malware detection based on concurrent analysis during run-time in one or more sandboxed virtual environments (e.g., one or more virtual machines). According to one embodiment of the disclosure, subsequent to release of a new version of a software component (e.g., “software 2.0” that is a newer version of “software 1.5”), a virtual analysis environment of the threat detection platform comprises a first virtual machine that is provisioned with a first guest image. The first guest image is configured in accordance with a fully-instrumented, legacy software profile, such as software 1.5 and activity monitors developed for software 1.5. Additionally, the virtual analysis environment of the threat detection platform comprises a second virtual machine that is provisioned with a second guest image. The second guest image is configured with a non-instrumented (temporary) software profile, such as software 2.0 and some or all of the legacy activity monitors developed for software 1.5.

[0017] Stated differently, the analysis environment may feature a first virtual environment provisioned with a first guest image including a first version of the software component (software 1.5) and a complete activity monitor package. The “complete” activity monitor package includes a first set of activity monitors for the first version of the software component (software 1.5), where the first set of activity monitors have been tested and provide comprehensive analysis of operations specific to the first version of the software component. Additionally, a second virtual environment may be provisioned with a second guest image that includes a second version of the software component (software 2.0) different than the first version of the software component (software 1.5) and a partial activity monitor package. As one example, the partial activity monitor package initially comprises the first set of activity monitors used for the first virtual environment and are directed specifically to the first version of the software component. Over time, the partial activity monitor package is updated, where the updates may include (1) one or more activity monitors that are specifically directed to either (a) a subset of new functionality provided by the second version of software component and absent from the first version of the software component or (b) modifications to one or more of the activity monitors of the first set of activity monitors that are used by the first version of the software component or (2) one or more activity monitors used for the first virtual environment and one or more activity monitors that are directed to, at most, only some of functionality provided by the second version of the software component that is not provided by the first version of the software component.

[0018] More specifically, in order to mitigate the likelihood of false negative events in detecting zero-day exploits, upon detecting availability of a new version (or any update) of a software component, the temporary software profile is generated. The temporary software profile includes the new version of the software component (software 2.0) along with some or all of the activity monitors that are directed to an earlier version of that software component (software 1.5). In conducting dynamic analysis of the suspect object, the second virtual machine is provisioned with the second guest image, which includes the new version of the software component along with activity monitors that are directed to an earlier version of that software component while the first virtual machine is provisioned with a guest image that includes the same or an earlier version of the software component along with activity monitors specifically generated for that version of the software component.

[0019] Hence, during dynamic analysis, the suspect object may undergo processing by at least two virtual machines requiring that software component. Additionally, activity monitors appropriate to that new version of the software component may be subsequently developed and tested, where updates of the temporary software profile may cause new guest images to be generated and the second virtual machine to be continuously reconfigured for each new update when instrumenting the temporary software profile.

[0020] Of course, in lieu of multiple virtual machines, a single virtual machine may be provisioned to operate in accordance with both the fully-instrumented, legacy software profile and the temporary software profile. This embodiment is especially available when the differences between fully-instrumented legacy software profile and the temporary software profile is solely based on the new version of a software application, namely no changes to OS functionality.

[0021] Also, in lieu of the software component usually being included (e.g. pre-stored on the platform), the software profile may be implemented with a script (or other type of logic) that is configured to fetch the software component from a source (e.g., software manufacturer, software distributor, etc.).

[0022] After configuration of the virtual analysis environment, the suspect object would be processed by at least one virtual machine, such as a plurality of virtual machines provisioned with guest images associated with different software profiles. For instance, a first virtual machine (VM) may be provisioned with a guest image that is based on a fully-instrumented, legacy software profile. Stated differently, the first VM may be loaded with software components associated with a fully-instrumented, legacy software profile. As a result, a second VM may be loaded with a temporary software profile, which prescribes the most recent version of one or more software components for the legacy software profile loaded in the first VM. The legacy software profile represents a catalog of software components instrumented to detect activities (e.g., exploits) within the virtual environment associated with the first VM. Each software profile may include software components (a) installed throughout an enterprise network to enable detection of malware that may successfully attack the enterprise (e.g., due to vulnerabilities in computer programs actually running within the enterprise), and/or (b) representing a selection of commonly deployed computer programs (e.g., to detect whether the object contains malware even if the enterprise itself may not be vulnerable).

[0023] By provisioning virtual environments with guest images pursuant to both the fully-instrumented legacy software profile and the temporary software profile as described above, the threat detection platform may still detect a variety of malicious attacks despite a lack of completion in generating the activity monitors for the new version of the software component. The differences in detection between the virtual environments may be analyzed to improve detection of zero-day exploits directed to vulnerabilities in the new version of the software component during the interim and further improve and perhaps expedite full instrumentation of the most recent version of the software component(s). This dual analysis continues as updates to the temporary software profile are received (e.g., incremental updates to the activity monitors associated with the new version of the software component) until the activity monitors for the new version of the software component are fully instrumented. At that time, only the fully instrumented software profile for the new version of the software component is run.

[0024] These above-described operations that occur during instrumentation of the new version of the software component achieve an advantage in that more details of a potential attack are provided to enable more effective/accurate classification (e.g., malware type or family, zero day exploit, etc.). Furthermore, more information on the attack profile of such malware (e.g., for tracing or remediation purposes) may be learned.

[0025] In summary, the threat detection platform can thus establish virtual environments concurrently in either of two modes: (1) a first mode in which each instantiated virtual environment is provisioned with a guest image based on a fully-instrumented software profile that includes a complete (in the sense of both “developed and tested” and comprehensive) activity monitors; or (2) a second mode in which a first virtual environment is provisioned with a guest image based on a fully-instrumented, legacy software profile along with a second “shadow” virtual environment provisioned with a guest image based on a partially-instrumented software file that includes the most recent software component(s) but a partial activity monitor package. The “partial activity monitor package” may constitute the activity monitors used for the first virtual environment and/or one or more activity monitors that are directed to, at most, only some of the new functionality provided by the new version of the software component, for example. When operating in the second mode, the threat detection platform continues such operations until a fully instrumented (and tested) version of the activity monitor package is available and thereafter we provide that new graphic interface (GI) and associated monitor package as a most recent “fully-instrumented” guest image.

[0026] In the following description, certain terminology is used to describe aspects of the invention. For example, in certain situations, both terms “component,” “engine” and “logic” are representative of hardware, firmware and/or software that is configured to perform one or more functions. As hardware, engine (or component or logic) may include circuitry having data processing or storage functionality. Examples of such processing or storage circuitry may include, but is not limited or restricted to a processor; one or more processor cores; a programmable gate array; a microcontroller; an application specific integrated circuit; receiver, transmitter and/or transceiver circuitry; semiconductor memory; or combinatorial logic, or combinations of one or more of the above components.

[0027] Component (or engine or logic) may be 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 a “non-transitory storage medium” may include, but are not limited or restricted to a programmable circuit; 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; and/or a semiconductor memory. As firmware, the executable code is stored in persistent storage.

[0028] The term “object” generally refers to a collection of data, such as a file, a portion of code, a message, a packet or a group of related packets for example, normally having a logical structure or organization that enables classification for purposes of analysis or storage. For instance, an object may be a self-contained element, where different types of such objects may include an executable file; a non-executable file (such as a document or a dynamically link library), a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, a JavaScript™ file, Zip™ file, a Flash file, a document (for example, a Microsoft Office® document); an email; downloaded web page; an instant message in accordance with Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or another messaging protocol, or the like. Also, in a broader sense, an object may constitute a flow, namely a collection of related objects communicated during a single communication session (e.g., Transport Control Protocol “TCP” session), perhaps between two electronic devices.

[0029] A “platform” generally refers to an electronic device that includes a housing that protects, and sometimes encases, circuitry with data processing, storage functionality and/or network connectivity. Examples of a platform may include a server or an endpoint device that may include, but is not limited or restricted to a stationary or portable computer including a desktop computer, laptop, electronic reader, netbook or tablet; a smart phone; a video-game console; or wearable technology (e.g., watch phone, etc.).

[0030] A “virtual machine” generally refers to an operating system (OS) or application environment that is virtualized and imitates dedicated hardware of a device (abstract or real), which may be different from the device on which the simulation is conducted. Virtual machines may be based on specifications of a hypothetical computer or emulate the computer architecture and functions of a real world computing device.

[0031] A “message” generally refers to information transmitted as information in a prescribed format, where each message may be in the form of one or more packets or frames, a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) based transmission, or any other series of bits having the prescribed format. “Metadata” is information that describes data (e.g., a particular object or objects constituting a flow, etc.).

[0032] The term “transmission medium” is a physical or logical communication path with an endpoint device. For instance, the communication path may include wired and/or wireless segments. Examples of wired and/or wireless segments include electrical wiring, optical fiber, cable, bus trace, or a wireless channel using infrared, radio frequency (RF), or any other wired/wireless signaling mechanism.

[0033] The term “computerized” generally represents that any corresponding operations are conducted by hardware in combination with software and/or firmware.

[0034] Lastly, 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 will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.

[0035] 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.

[0036] Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary block diagram of a network 100 deploying a plurality of threat detection platforms (TDP) 110₁-110_N (N>1, where N=2 for this embodiment) communicatively coupled to a management system 120 via a network 125 is shown. In general, the management system 120 is adapted to manage each TDP 110₁-110₃. For instance, the management system 120 may be configured to perform content updates (e.g., upload new rules or modified rules, delete rules, modify parameters that are utilized by the rules and/or upload metadata) within a static analysis engine 150, a dynamic analysis engine 170, a classification engine 190, and/or a reporting engine 195 with an optional user interface capability.

[0037] As shown in FIG. 1, a first threat detection platform (TDP) 110₁ is an electronic device that is adapted to analyze information associated with incoming data (e.g., data over a communication network 132 from/to one or more endpoint devices 130, data via another type of transmission medium such as wireless channel from a dedicated server, wired cable coupled to a server or device with storage capability, etc.). As this illustrative embodiment, the communication network 132 may include a public network such as the Internet, a private network (e.g., a local area network “LAN”, wireless LAN, etc.), or a combination thereof. Herein, the first TDP 110₁ is communicatively coupled with the communication network 132 via an interface 136.

[0038] In general, the interface 136 may operate as a data capturing device that is configured to receive the incoming data and provide information associated with the received incoming data to the first TDP 110₁. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the interface 136 operates as a data capturing device (e.g., network tap) that provides at least one or more objects (hereinafter “object(s)”) extracted from network traffic propagating to/from one or more endpoint devices 130 (hereinafter, “endpoint device(s)”). Alternatively, although not shown, the interface 136 may be configured to receive files or other objects that are not provided over a network. For instance, as an example, the interface 136 may be a data capturing device that automatically (or on command), accessing data stored in a storage system or another type of interface, such as a port, for receiving objects manually provided via a suitable dedicated communication link or from storage media such as portable flash drives.

[0039] Metadata may accompany the object(s) for analysis. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the metadata may be used, at least in part, to determine protocols, application types and other information that identifies characteristics of the object under analysis. The metadata may be used by logic (e.g., scheduler 160) within the first TDP 110₁ to select one or more software (guest) images that correspond to and include a particular software profile. The software images are used to provision virtual machines 178₁-178_M (M≧1) within virtual analysis environment 176 according to a particular software profile. For instance, accessible by the scheduler 160, a plurality of different types of software images may be stored in a storage device 165, which correspond to a plurality of different types of software profiles. The software images can be updated via the management system 120 and/or cloud computing (or enterprise) services under a “push” or “pull” delivery scheme. These software images are used for configuring (i) virtual machine(s) 178₁-178_M within a virtual analysis environment 176 of the dynamic analysis engine 160, or (ii) one or more security agents operating similarly to VMs and deployed within an endpoint device, as described below.

[0040] In some embodiments, although not shown, interface 136 may be contained within the first TDP 110₁. In other embodiments, the interface 136 can be integrated into an intermediary device in the communication path (e.g., a firewall, router, switch or other networked electronic device) or can be a standalone component, such as an appropriate commercially available network tap.

[0041] As further shown in FIG. 1, a first embodiment of the first TDP 110₁ includes a communication interface 140 featuring a processing engine, static analysis engine 150, scheduler 160, storage device 165, dynamic analysis engine 170, classification engine 190, and reporting engine 195. Herein, the processing engine 140 receives a flow that includes an object and converts that object into a format, as need or appropriate, on which deep scanning by the static analysis engine 150 can be applied (see operations 1 & 2). This conversion and scanning may involve decompression of the object, decompilation of the object, extraction of specific data associated with the object, and/or emulation of the extracted data (like Javascript).

[0042] The static analysis engine 150 may include one or more controllers (e.g., processing circuitry such as one or more processors) that features metadata capture logic 152 and static analysis logic 154. For example, the metadata capture logic 152 is responsible for extracting and/or generating metadata contained with and/or associated with incoming data (e.g., network traffic). The metadata may be identified as being associated with a particular object 145 under analysis, and is temporarily stored. Examples of types of the metadata may include, but are not restricted or limited to information associated with the object such as object type. For example, code is an example of an object type, which may be in the form of an executable file or code embedded into another type of object. This metadata may be subsequently used for configuring one or more VMs 178₁-178_M within the virtual analysis environment 176 for conducting a dynamic analysis of the object associated with that metadata.

[0043] In addition to, or in lieu of the metadata associated with the source of the object 145, it is contemplated that other types of metadata may be captured by metadata capture logic 152. For instance, these other types of metadata may include metadata associated with the destination targeted to receive the object 145. As examples, the metadata may include the device type for endpoint device 130, the Media Access Control (MAC) address of the endpoint device 130, the particular software configuration of the endpoint device 130, or the like.

[0044] Referring still to FIG. 1, the static analysis logic 154 includes one or more software modules that, when executed by the controller(s), analyzes features for one or more incoming objects 145, which may be a portion of network traffic according to this embodiment of the disclosure (see operation 2). Such analysis may involve a static analysis of the features of each object under analysis to determine whether the object 145 is “suspect,” namely, namely there exists a certain level of likelihood that the object 145 is associated with malware. This static analysis may include one or more checks being conducted on the object without its execution.

[0045] Examples of the checks may include signature matching to conduct (a) exploit signature checks, which may be adapted to compare at least a portion of the object under analysis with one or more pre-stored exploit signatures (pre-configured and predetermined attack patterns) from signature database (not shown), and/or (b) vulnerability signature checks that may be adapted to uncover deviations in messaging practices (e.g., non-compliance in communication protocols, message formats or ordering, and/or payload parameters including size). Other examples of these checks may include (i) heuristics, which is based on rules or policies as applied to the object and may determine whether one or more portions of the object under analysis is associated with an anomalous or suspicious characteristic (e.g., a particular URL associated with known exploits, or a particular source or destination address etc.) associated with known exploits; or (ii) determinative rule-based analysis that may include blacklist or whitelist checking.

[0046] Upon static analysis of the features of the object 145, the static analysis engine 150 determines whether this object 145 is “suspect,” namely the object 145 has features that suggest its association with a malicious attack. As a result, the static analysis engine 150 may route this suspect object 148 (e.g., some or the entire analyzed object 145) to the dynamic analysis engine 170 for more in-depth analysis in the virtual analysis environment 176.

[0047] More specifically, after analysis of the features of the object 145 has been completed, the static analysis engine 150 may provide the suspect object 148 to the dynamic analysis engine 170 for in-depth dynamic analysis by at least VMs 178₁-178₂ of the virtual analysis environment 176 (see operation 4). For instance, in accordance with the metadata associated with the suspect object 148, a first VM 178₁ may be provisioned with a first guest image 180, which is configured with the latest, fully-instrumented software profile corresponding to characteristics of the suspect object 148. As shown, the first guest image 180 includes one or more software components 182 that are configured to process the suspect object 148 within the virtual analysis environment 176 and activity monitors 183 that are configured to monitor behaviors of the software component 182 when processing the suspect object 148. These behaviors may include certain activities, sequence of activities and/or inactivity, or other behaviors representative for this particular software component 182.

[0048] Concurrently, a second VM 178₂ may be provisioned with a second guest image 185, which includes a software component 187 and the activity monitors 183. The software component 187 is the most recent version of software that is configured to process the suspect object 148 within the virtual analysis environment 176. The activity monitors 183 are not configured for the most recent version of the software that is configured to process the suspect object 148. Rather, the activity monitors 183 are configured to monitor behaviors of the software component 182 when processing the suspect object 148 instead of suspect component 187.

[0049] For instance, presuming that the suspect object 148 is directed to a particular type and version of the software component 182, such as a particular web browser application as in the Mozilla® FireFox® browser application for example, the first VM 178₁ may be provisioned with the guest image 180 that is configured with the fully-instrumented software profile for that particular software component (e.g., Mozilla® FireFox® version 32.0 released in July 2014). By being fully-instrumented, activity monitors 183 have been developed specifically directed to all functionality of the software component 182 in order to monitor behaviors some of which may be unique for this particular type/version of software component, or target known vulnerabilities of that version.

[0050] Additionally, the second VM 178₂ may be provisioned with the guest image 185, which is configured with the temporary software profile. Herein, the temporary software profile is directed to the same type of software but a different version (e.g., a later release of the web browser such as Mozilla® FireFox® version 33.0 released in September 2014). Also, the activity monitors associated with this version of the software component 187 have not been completed, and thus, some or all of the activity monitors 183 associated with the prior version (e.g., Mozilla® FireFox® version 32.0) are utilized. As a result, behaviors associated with common shared functions may be detected by the activity monitors 183, but behaviors associated with newly developed functions within the software component 187 may not be detected unless the activity monitors 183 detect calls and other programmatic activity that may be employed by malware attacking the new version of the software component 187, even if that malware is exploiting zero day vulnerabilities of this new version. In that case, the legacy activity monitors 183 may detect attacks against the software component 187 which would not have been launched or been successful against the prior software component 182 since that component did not have the same vulnerability as the later version.

[0051] Referring still to FIG. 1, according to one embodiment, the scheduler 160 may be adapted to configure one or more VMs 178₁-178_M, namely the first VM 178₁ and the second VM 178₂ as shown, based on metadata associated with the suspect object 148 (see operation 3). For instance, the VMs 178₁-178_M may be provisioned with software images stored within the storage device 165. These software images are configured with in accordance with certain software profiles. The software profiles may be directed to software components supplied by an enterprise and/or software components commonly utilized by endpoint devices within the enterprise (e.g., a Windows® 7 OS; a certain version of a particular web browser such as Internet Explorer®; Adobe® PDF™ reader application). As yet another alternative embodiment, the software image may include a script that fetches the software components from a third party (e.g., software manufacturer, distributor, etc.). Of course, it is contemplated that the VM configuration described above may be handled by logic other than the scheduler 160.

[0052] According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the dynamic analysis engine 170 may be adapted to execute one or more VMs 178₁-178_M, namely the first VM 178₁ and the second VM 178₂ as shown, that simulate processing of the suspect object 148 within a run-time environment (see operation 4). For instance, dynamic analysis engine 170 may optionally include processing logic 172 to emulate and provide anticipated signaling to the VM(s) 178₁, . . . , and/or 178_M during virtual processing. As an example, the processing logic 172 may be adapted operate by simulating return signaling requested by the suspect object 148 during virtual run-time. The monitored behavior by the VMs 178₁-178_M may be stored within a data store (event log) 174 for subsequent transfer as part of the VM-based results 189 to the classification engine 190 (see operation 6).

[0053] According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the classification engine 190 includes logic that is configured to receive the VM-based result 189. Based on the VM-based results 189, which include information associated with the monitored behaviors associated with processing of the suspect object with the VMs 178₁-178_M, the classification engine 190 classifies the suspect object 148 as malicious or not. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the classification engine 190 comprises prioritization logic 192, score determination logic 194, and comparison logic 196. The optional prioritization logic 192 may be configured to apply weighting to analysis results from static analysis engine 150 (illustrated by dashed lines) and/or the VM-based results 189, especially where the VM-based results 189 include a preliminary score identifying a likelihood of the suspect object 148 being maliciousness.

[0054] The score determination logic 194 comprises one or more software modules that are used to determine a final probability (score) that is used by the comparison logic 196 to determine (i) whether the suspect object 148 is associated with a malicious attack, (ii) severity of the malicious attack, (iii) malware family pertaining to the malicious attack or “zero day” characteristics, or the like. The final probability (score) may be included as part of results provided to the reporting engine 195 for reporting. The score determination logic 194 may rely on a predictive model to determine the final probability (score) assigned to the suspect object 148.

[0055] As shown in FIG. 1, the reporting engine 195 is adapted to receive information from the classification engine 180 and generate alerts (e.g., various types of messages including text messages and email messages, display images, or other types of information over a wired or wireless communication path) that identify to a network administrator that the suspect object 148 as malicious (see operation 7).

[0056] Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary block diagram of a network 200 deploying a plurality of TDP 110₁-110_N, including a second embodiment of the first TDP 110₁, is shown. The first TDP 110₁ includes the communication interface 140, the static analysis engine 150, the scheduler 160, the storage device 165, the dynamic analysis engine 170, the classification engine 190, and the reporting engine 195, as described above. However, in lieu of configuring the virtual analysis environment 176 with multiple virtual machines, a single virtual machine (e.g., first VM 178₁) may be provisioned to operate in accordance with both the fully-instrumented, legacy software profile and the temporary software profile. These operations may be concurrent (e.g., occurring at least partially at the same time) or in series. As an example, this configuration may occur in response to a release of a new version of software (e.g. software 1.5.1), which is a minor update from a prior version (e.g., software 2.0) and relies on the same OS.

[0057] More specifically, in accordance with this embodiment, the first VM 178₁ may be provisioned with both the first guest image 180 and the second guest image 185. The first guest image 180 is configured with the latest, fully-instrumented software profile corresponding to characteristics of the suspect object 148. As shown, the first guest image 180 includes one or more software components 182 that are configured to process the suspect object 148 within the virtual analysis environment 176 and activity monitors 183 that are configured to monitor behaviors of the software component 182 when processing the suspect object 148.

[0058] Additionally, the first VM 178₁ is provisioned with the second guest image 185, which includes the software component 187 and the activity monitors 183. The software component 187 is the most recent version of that software. The activity monitors 183 are not configured for the most recent version of the software, but may be used to monitor much (but perhaps not all) of the functionality associated with the software component 187.

[0059] After configuration of the virtual analysis environment, the suspect object 148 would be processed, in a concurrent or sequential manner, by the first VM 178₁. Herein, the differences in detection between the virtual environments associated with the fully-instrumented software profile and the temporary software profile may be analyzed to detect whether the subject object 148 constitutes a zero-day exploit and further improve and perhaps expedite full instrumentation of the most recent version of the software.

[0060] Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary block diagram of a network 300 deploying the plurality of TDP 110₁-110_N, including a third embodiment of the first TDP 110₁, is shown. The first TDP 110₁ includes the communication interface 140, the static analysis engine 150, the scheduler 160, the storage device 165, the dynamic analysis engine 170, the classification engine 190, and the reporting engine 195, as described above.

[0061] Herein, the first VM 178₁ may be provisioned with the first guest image 180, which is configured with the latest, fully-instrumented software profile corresponding to characteristics of the suspect object 148. As shown, the first guest image 180 includes one or more software components 182 that are configured to process the suspect object 148 within the virtual analysis environment 176 and activity monitors 183 that are configured to monitor behaviors of the software component 182 when processing the suspect object 148. However, in lieu of including the software component 187, the second guest image 185 is configured with the temporary software profile that includes a script 310. The script 310, when executed by the second VM 178₂, is configured to fetch the software component from a source (e.g., software manufacturer, software distributor, etc.) as shown by operation 6 identified as communication 197 for this embodiment. For instance, the script 310 may be configured to fetch a most recent version of Adobe® Reader® software and rely on activity monitors associated with an older version of Adobe® Reader® for monitoring functionality of the most recent version, including operations resulting from new features.

[0062] According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the use of script 310 may reduce the size of guest images configured with temporary software profiles, which reduces the amount of bandwidth required when the management system 120 is configured to upload these guest images to hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of TDPs. Additionally, the amount of local storage within storage device 165 may be reduced, especially when it is storing tens or hundreds of guest images associated with temporary software profiles.

[0063] According to another embodiment of the disclosure, in lieu of the script 310 being deployed within the guest image 185, the script 310 may be a deployed within logic within the dynamic analysis engine 170 outside the guest image 185. For instance, the script 310 may be located within a guest image management module (not shown), which receives handle or other information about the new version of the software component to be retrieved and processed within the virtual machine 178₂.

[0064] Referring now to FIG. 4, an exemplary block diagram of logic associated with the first TDP 110₁ of FIG. 1 is shown. The first TDP 110₁ includes control logic 400 to manage and control the VMs 178₁-178_M as independent, sandboxed virtual environments. The behaviors resulting from the processing of the suspect object 148 using the software components 182 and 187 are monitored by the activity monitors 183.

[0065] According to a first embodiment of the disclosure, although not shown, the control logic 400 may be implemented as part of a VM monitor or manager (VMM), also referred to as a hypervisor for managing or monitoring VMs, which may be hosted by a host operating system (OS). The VMs 178₁-178_M may be hosted by a guest OS. The host OS and the guest OS may be the same type of operating systems or different types of operating systems (e.g., Windows™, Linux™, Unix™, Mac OS™, iOS™, etc.), or different versions thereof.

[0066] According to a second embodiment of the disclosure, as shown, the control logic 400 may be implemented as processing circuitry that controls, at least in part, the provisioning of the VMs 178₁-178_M and the processing of the suspect object 148 within the VMs 178₁-178_M. Additionally, the control logic 400 controls, at least in part, the storage of events monitored during the processing of the suspect object 148 by the VMs 178₁-178_M. The monitored events are placed with the event log 174 for subsequent retrieval, processing and reporting of detected malicious and/or non-malicious activities.

[0067] According to this second embodiment, when the suspect object 148 is received for a dynamic content analysis via a communication interface 410, the scheduler 160 that is part of the control logic 400 provisions the second VM 178₂ with a guest image that is in accordance with a temporary software profile to closely simulate a target operating environment (e.g., particular version(s) of certain software installed therein) in which the suspect object 148 is to be analyzed. The temporary software profile includes the newly released version of software 187 (e.g., software ver. 2.0) along with some or all of the activity monitors 183 directed to an earlier version of the software 182 (e.g., software ver. 1.5). Additionally, the scheduler 160 provisions the first VM 178₁ with a guest image that is in accordance with a fully-instrumented software profile of the earlier version of the software component 182 with its corresponding activity monitors 183.

[0068] The scheduler 160 may include a queue 430 of suspect objects awaiting dynamic analysis and processing within a virtual machine because, under heavy workloads, the number of VMs that may be concurrently executed may be limited. The scheduler 160 then launches VMs 178₁ and 178₂ in which activity monitors 183 are running within VMs 178₁ and 178₂ in order to monitor for anomalous behaviors of the suspect object 148 during processing.

[0069] Upon detecting various behaviors, some or all of these behaviors may be sent (via message(s)) to an event monitoring logic 440 within the control logic 400. In communication with the activity monitors 183, the event monitoring logic 440 is configured to capture at least some events from the activity monitors 183 and store these events in the event log 174. These events may be further provided, directly or indirectly, to the classification engine 180 (for applying classification rules to the monitored and stored events (behaviors/activities) to classify the object as malware or benign), and UI rendering engine 190 of FIGS. 1-3.

[0070] The messaging between the activity monitors 183 and the control logic 400 for recordation of the events within storage 420, such as part of the event log 174, may be triggered upon detection of one or more anomalous behaviors during processing of the suspect object 148. Examples of these anomalous behaviors may include, but are not limited or restricted to an unexpected activity, an unexpected sequence of activities and/or inactivity, or other behaviors that differ from behaviors representative for this particular software component 182.

[0071] The control logic 400 may further include guest image selection (GIS) logic 450. The GIS logic 450 selects, from storage 420, multiple versions of a software application to be used, especially when the suspect object 148 is configured to run on newly released software that has not been instrumented. Under this condition, the GIS logic 450 selects a guest image associated with temporary software profile, which includes a most recent version of the software component 187 that has not been fully-instrumented. The GIS logic 450 further select a guest image associated with a prior version of that software component (e.g., software component 182) that is based on a fully-instrumented software profile. By selecting this software profile combination, the detected behavioral differences may provide information as to whether the suspect object is a zero-day exploit.

[0072] Referring now to FIG. 5, an illustrative embodiment for detecting malicious attacks, especially zero-day attacks, prior to completion of a fully-instrumented software profile for a newly released version of a software component is shown. According to this embodiment, in response to receipt of a suspect object and a fully-instrumented software profile for the newly released version of the software component that processes the object is unavailable, collective multiple sandboxed virtual environments are generated to detect zero-day attacks and other malicious attacks (blocks 500, 510 and 520).

[0073] In particular, according to one embodiment of the disclosure, upon receipt of the suspect object, a first virtual environment features a first VM that is provisioned with a first guest image for processing the suspect object. The first guest image is configured in accordance with a fully-instrumented software profile of an earlier version of the software component. As part of or provided with the first guest image, activity monitors are developed and tested to detect anomalous behaviors of an object when processed by the earlier version of the software component (block 530).

[0074] Additionally, upon receipt of the suspect object, a second virtual environment features a second VM that is provisioned with a second guest image for processing the suspect object. The second guest image is configured in accordance with at most a partially-instrumented software profile of the most recent version of the software component. As part of or provided with the second guest image, some or all of the activity monitors for the earlier version of the software component are used for detecting anomalous behavior (block 540). Of course, it is contemplated that the first and second virtual environments may be associated with a single VM that supports concurrent processing of multiple guest images.

[0075] In response to detecting one or more anomalous behaviors by both the first and second virtual environments, a determination is made that that the suspect object is associated with a malicious attack (blocks 550 and 560). However, in response to only the second virtual environment detecting one or more anomalous behaviors, a determination is made that that the suspect object is associated with a particular malicious attack, namely a zero-day attack (blocks 570 and 580). Otherwise, the suspect object is non-malicious (block 590). The results of the determinations are subsequently reported (block 595).

[0076] This technique for improved zero-day exploit detection and software profile instrumentation also may be performed by one or more security agents (hereinafter “security agent(s)”) 600 as shown in FIG. 6. Herein, the security agent(s) 600 is stored within a memory 610 encased within a housing 625 of an endpoint device 620. Upon execution by a processor 630, the security agent(s) 600 conducts dynamic analysis of at least a portion of information 640 received by a transceiver 650 of the endpoint device 620. As described above, the security agent(s) 600 conducts dynamic (virtual) analysis of a suspect object 148 in accordance with the fully-instrumented software profile and a temporary software profile as described above, and monitors the resultant behaviors by the suspect object 148. These monitored behaviors are stored in an event log 660 within the memory 610, which may be reported through a messaging system (not shown) within the endpoint device 620 on a display 670.

[0077] In the foregoing description, the invention is described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, 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.