A flow processing facility, which uses a set of artificial neurons for pattern recognition, such as a self-organizing map, in order to provide security and protection to a computer or computer system supports unified threat management based at least in part on patterns relevant to a variety of types of threats that relate to computer systems, including computer networks. Flow processing for switching, security, and other network applications, including a facility that processes a data flow to address patterns relevant to a variety of conditions are directed at internal network security, virtualization, and web connection security. A flow processing facility for inspecting payloads of network traffic packets detects security threats and intrusions across accessible layers of the IP-stack by applying content matching and behavioral anomaly detection techniques based on regular expression matching and self-organizing maps. Exposing threats and intrusions within packet payload at or near real-time rates enhances network security from both external and internal sources while ensuring security policy is rigorously applied to data and system resources. Intrusion Detection and Protection (IDP) is provided by a flow processing facility that processes a data flow to address patterns relevant to a variety of types of network and data integrity threats that relate to computer systems, including computer networks.

Systems and methods for processing data flows

An apparatus and method to distribute applications and services in and throughout a network and to secure the network includes the functionality of a switch with the ability to apply applications and services to received data according to respective subscriber profiles. Front-end processors, or Network Processor Modules (NPMs), receive and recognize data flows from subscribers, extract profile information for the respective subscribers, utilize flow scheduling techniques to forward the data to applications processors, or Flow Processor Modules (FPMs). The FPMs utilize resident applications to process data received from the NPMs. A Control Processor Module (CPM) facilitates applications processing and maintains connections to the NPMs, FPMs, local and remote storage devices, and a Management Server (MS) module that can monitor the health and maintenance of the various modules.

Processing data flows with a data flow processor

A network router includes a plurality of interfaces configured to send and receive packets, and a routing component comprising: (i) a routing engine that includes a control unit that executes a routing protocol to maintain routing information specifying routes through a network, and (ii) a forwarding plane configured by the routing engine to select next hops for the packets in accordance with the routing information. The forwarding plane comprises a switch fabric to forward the packets to the interfaces based on the selected next hops. The network router also includes a security plane configured to apply security functions to the packets. The security plane is integrated within the network router to share a streamlined forwarding plane of the routing component.

Streamlined packet forwarding using dynamic filters for routing and security in a shared forwarding plane

In some embodiments, a malware analysis system includes receiving a potential malware sample from a firewall; analyzing the potential malware sample using a virtual machine to determine if the potential malware sample is malware; and automatically generating a signature if the potential malware sample is determined to be malware. In some embodiments, the potential malware sample does not match a preexisting signature, and the malware is a zero-day attack.

Malware analysis system

A network security appliance supports definition of a security policy to control access to a network. The security policy is defined by match criteria including a layer seven network application, a static port list of layer four ports for a transport-layer protocol, and actions to be applied to packet flows that match the match criteria. A rules engine dynamically identifies a type of layer seven network application associated with the received packet flow based on inspection of application-layer data within payloads of packets of the packet flow without basing the identification solely on a layer four port specified by headers within the packets. The rules engine is configured to apply the security policy to determine whether the packet flow matches the static port lists specified by the match criteria. The network security appliance applies the actions specified by the security policy to the packet flow.

Dynamic access control policy with port restrictions for a network security appliance

Performance of an intrusion detection system is enhanced with the addition of rule optimization, set-based rule inspection, and protocol flow analysis. During rule optimization, rule sets are created and selected in such a way that for every incoming packet only a single rule set has to be searched. Set-based rule inspection divides rules into content and non-content type rules. Only search patterns of content type rules are initially compared to a packet. Rules containing matched search patterns are validated with a parameterized search against the packet. Matches are recorded as events. Non-content rules are searched against a packet using a parameterized search. These matches are also recorded as an event. At least one event is selected per packet for logging. Protocol flow analysis determines the direction of flow of network traffic. Based on the direction of flow and the protocol, portions of packets can be eliminated from rule inspection.

Methods and systems for intrusion detection

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for optimizing and reducing the memory requirements of state machine algorithms in pattern matching applications. Memory requirements of an Aho-Corasick algorithm are reduced in an intrusion detection system by representing the state table as three separate data structures. Memory requirements of an Aho-Corasick algorithm are also reduced by applying a banded-row sparse matrix technique to the state transition table of the state table. The pattern matching performance of the intrusion detection system is improved by performing a case insensitive search, where the characters of the test sequence are converted to uppercase as the characters are read. Testing, reveals that state transition tables with sixteen bit elements outperform state transition tables with thirty-two bit elements and do not reduce the functionality of intrusion detection systems using the Aho-Corasick algorithm.

Methods and systems for multi-pattern searching

A hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) inspection engine for an intrusion detection system (IDS) includes an HTTP policy selection component, a request universal resource identifier (URI) discovery component, and a URI normalization module. The HTTP policy selection component identifies an HTTP intrusion detection policy using a packet. The request URI discovery component locates a URI within the packet. The URI normalization module decodes an obfuscation within the URI. In another embodiment, a packet transmitted on the network is intercepted. The packet is parsed. An internet protocol (IP) address of the packet is identified. An HTTP intrusion detection policy for a network device is determined. A URI is located in the packet. A pattern from an intrusion detection system rule is compared to the located URI. In another embodiment, an IDS includes a packet acquisition system, network and transport reassembly modules, an HTTP inspection engine, a detection engine, and a logging system.

Intrusion detection strategies for hypertext transport protocol

The threat probability of events generated by a security device on a computer network is assessed by comparing the threat probability to a global threat probability. An abstract data type is used to describe how the events are combined to form a threat. If an event matches an unpopulated member of an instance of an abstract data type, the event is added to the instance and the probability of the instance is computed. If the probability of the instance is greater than a global threat probability, a dynamic threat assessment event is generated. A system for dynamically assessing threats to computers and computer networks system includes at least one security device that generates events, an event collection database, policy configuration information, and a dynamic threat assessment engine.

Daniel J. Roelker

Papers

Methods and systems for intrusion detection

Methods and systems for multi-pattern searching

Intrusion detection strategies for hypertext transport protocol

Systems and methods for dynamic threat assessment

Verfahren und systeme zur mehrfachmustersuche