Server-Side Second Factors: Approaches to Measuring User Authenticity

David Freeman
David FreemanHead of Anti-Abuse Engineering at LinkedIn
©2013LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
1
Server-Side Second Factors!
Approaches to Measuring User Authenticity
David Freeman!
Head of Anti-Abuse Engineering at LinkedIn!
!
!


Enigma 2016
San Francisco, CA
25 Jan 2016
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Imagine my job…
2
399,800,000+!
ARE NOT SECURITY EXPERTS
400,000,000+!
REGISTERED MEMBERS
©2013LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
An Enigma attendee would never…
3
use a common password reuse passwords across sites

(especially sites that get hacked)
get phished tell someone their password
…but some of the other 399.8 million might!
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Why take over a LinkedIn account?
!
!
!
– Spam looks more legitimate when it comes from
someone you know.
!
!
!
– Accounts can have valuable contacts, messages, and
other data.
4
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Can we force better passwords?
5
§
DILBERT © 2005 Scott Adams. Used By permission of UNIVERSAL UCLICK. All rights reserved.
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Alternatives to better passwords?
6
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
We must assume the worst
• The member’s password is weak or known.
• The account is not opted in to two-factor authentication.
• The attacker could be a bot or human.
• Members are not going to change their behavior.
7
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Scoring login attempts
• Assess level of suspiciousness.
• Require second factor above some threshold.
• Cover all entry points.
– Prove you’re a human
– Establish contact through another channel
– Repeat back information you gave us earlier
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
What second factors could we require?
9
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Tradeoffs
Second factor needs to be easy for good users, hard for
bad guys.
– Biggest gap: SMS verification
– Smallest gap: “First name challenge”
vs.
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
What data do we have to score logins?
– Request data:
– IP address (and derived country, ISP, etc.)
– Browser’s useragent (and OS, version, etc.)
– Timestamp
– Cookies
– and more…
– Reputation scores for all of the above
– Global counters on all of the above
– History of member’s previous (successful) logins
11
Heuristics can get you pretty far:
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Which logins are suspicious?
12
BAD
Not so!
bad
BAD
BAD
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Effectiveness of heuristics
Good at stopping large-scale/indiscriminate attacks.
– Bot attack from Jan 2015: 

99% blocked on country mismatch
– Bot attack from Nov 2015: 

98% matched country

100% blocked by rate-limiting
!
Not so good at stopping targeted attacks.
– 96% of legitimate logins match country
– 93% of compromises match country
13
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Formulating the problem statistically
14
Ultimately, model needs to decide whether
!
!
[ Notation:
X = user data (timestamp, IP address, browser, etc.)
u = user identity ]
!
Pr[attack|u, X]
Pr[legitimate|u, X]
> 1.
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Formulating the problem statistically
15
Ultimately, model needs to decide whether
!
!
But it’s hard to estimate this ratio directly from the data!
• Most members are never attacked (numerator is 0)
• Only a few samples per member.
• Members come from previously unseen values of X

(IP addresses, browsers, etc.)
Pr[attack|u, X]
Pr[legitimate|u, X]
> 1.
©2013LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Computing the likelihood of attack
Asset Reputation Score
(interpreted as a probability)
Global likelihood of
seeing data X
Value of account 

to attacker
Appearance of data X
in u’s (legitimate) login history
Likelihood of member u
logging in
Pr[attack|u, X]
Pr[legitimate|u, X]
= Pr[attack|X] ·
Pr[X]
Pr[X|u]
·
Pr[u|attack]
Pr[u]
After a few assumptions and a lot of Bayes’ rule, we get:
No per-member attack data required!
Pr[attack|u, X]
Pr[legitimate|u, X]
= Pr[attack|X]↵
·
Pr[X]
Pr[X|u]
·
Pr[u|attack]
Pr[u]✏
©2013LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Computing the likelihood of attack
Asset Reputation Score
(interpreted as a probability)
Global likelihood of
seeing data X
Value of account 

to attacker
Appearance of data X
in u’s (legitimate) login history
Likelihood of member u
logging in
If you have labeled attack data, use it to learn feature weights.
After a few assumptions and a lot of Bayes’ rule, we get:
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Smoothing
18
Q: How do we estimate when X is an IP address
that u has never logged in from?
!
A: We have auxiliary information about unseen IPs:
!
!
!
!
• Use ISP- or country-level data to estimate probabilities.
• Give higher weight to unseen events from a known ISP.
§
§
§
World
USA
AT&T
1.2.3.4
Pr[X|u]
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Experimental Results
Prototype model using two features: 

IP hierarchy & useragent hierarchy 

(useragent, browser version, browser, OS)
!
Test data: 

(a) 6 months of compromised accounts

(b) botnet observed in Jan 2015
!
!
!
19
Results Country Match Model Result Model+Heuristics
Botnet 99% 95% 99%
Compromised accounts 7% 77% 81%
False positives 4% 10% 3%
• Protect all users.
• Minimize friction.
• Use both heuristics and machine learning.
• Use statistical models even if you don’t have good
labeled data.
©2016LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
Take-aways
20
©2013LinkedInCorporation.AllRightsReserved.
§
©2016 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
21
Questions?
dfreeman@linkedin.com
[p.s. we’re hiring too!]
Login scoring model is joint work with Sakshi Jain (LinkedIn),
Markus Dürmuth (Ruhr Universität Bochum), and
Battista Biggio and Giorgio Giacinto (Università di Cagliari), to appear at NDSS ’16.
1 of 21

Recommended

Data Science vs. the Bad Guys: Defending LinkedIn from Fraud and Abuse by
Data Science vs. the Bad Guys: Defending LinkedIn from Fraud and AbuseData Science vs. the Bad Guys: Defending LinkedIn from Fraud and Abuse
Data Science vs. the Bad Guys: Defending LinkedIn from Fraud and AbuseDavid Freeman
2.8K views35 slides
The Rise of California Cybercrime by
The Rise of California Cybercrime The Rise of California Cybercrime
The Rise of California Cybercrime SecureAuth
503 views15 slides
Shape Security @ WaffleJS October 16 by
Shape Security @ WaffleJS October 16Shape Security @ WaffleJS October 16
Shape Security @ WaffleJS October 16Jarrod Overson
732 views15 slides
The Life of Breached Data & The Dark Side of Security by
The Life of Breached Data & The Dark Side of SecurityThe Life of Breached Data & The Dark Side of Security
The Life of Breached Data & The Dark Side of SecurityJarrod Overson
935 views82 slides
The Dark Side of Security by
The Dark Side of SecurityThe Dark Side of Security
The Dark Side of SecurityJarrod Overson
1.4K views61 slides
New Frontiers in Cyber Forensics by
New Frontiers in Cyber ForensicsNew Frontiers in Cyber Forensics
New Frontiers in Cyber ForensicsAlbert Hui
425 views37 slides

More Related Content

What's hot

What is the Cybersecurity plan for tomorrow? by
What is the Cybersecurity plan for tomorrow?What is the Cybersecurity plan for tomorrow?
What is the Cybersecurity plan for tomorrow?Samvel Gevorgyan
2.6K views22 slides
The Ins, Outs, and Nuances of Internet Privacy by
The Ins, Outs, and Nuances of Internet PrivacyThe Ins, Outs, and Nuances of Internet Privacy
The Ins, Outs, and Nuances of Internet PrivacyeBoost Consulting
652 views85 slides
[CB20] Illicit QQ Communities: What's Being Shared? by Aaron Shraberg by
[CB20] Illicit QQ Communities: What's Being Shared? by Aaron Shraberg[CB20] Illicit QQ Communities: What's Being Shared? by Aaron Shraberg
[CB20] Illicit QQ Communities: What's Being Shared? by Aaron ShrabergCODE BLUE
98 views25 slides
Global CCISO Forum 2018 | Ondrej Krehel | The Era of Cyber Extortion and Rans... by
Global CCISO Forum 2018 | Ondrej Krehel | The Era of Cyber Extortion and Rans...Global CCISO Forum 2018 | Ondrej Krehel | The Era of Cyber Extortion and Rans...
Global CCISO Forum 2018 | Ondrej Krehel | The Era of Cyber Extortion and Rans...EC-Council
64 views36 slides
Cyber Threats Presentation Sample by
Cyber Threats Presentation SampleCyber Threats Presentation Sample
Cyber Threats Presentation SampleRichard Smiraldi
77 views8 slides
Cyber threats sample by
Cyber threats sampleCyber threats sample
Cyber threats sampleRichard Smiraldi
329 views8 slides

What's hot(20)

What is the Cybersecurity plan for tomorrow? by Samvel Gevorgyan
What is the Cybersecurity plan for tomorrow?What is the Cybersecurity plan for tomorrow?
What is the Cybersecurity plan for tomorrow?
Samvel Gevorgyan2.6K views
The Ins, Outs, and Nuances of Internet Privacy by eBoost Consulting
The Ins, Outs, and Nuances of Internet PrivacyThe Ins, Outs, and Nuances of Internet Privacy
The Ins, Outs, and Nuances of Internet Privacy
eBoost Consulting652 views
[CB20] Illicit QQ Communities: What's Being Shared? by Aaron Shraberg by CODE BLUE
[CB20] Illicit QQ Communities: What's Being Shared? by Aaron Shraberg[CB20] Illicit QQ Communities: What's Being Shared? by Aaron Shraberg
[CB20] Illicit QQ Communities: What's Being Shared? by Aaron Shraberg
CODE BLUE98 views
Global CCISO Forum 2018 | Ondrej Krehel | The Era of Cyber Extortion and Rans... by EC-Council
Global CCISO Forum 2018 | Ondrej Krehel | The Era of Cyber Extortion and Rans...Global CCISO Forum 2018 | Ondrej Krehel | The Era of Cyber Extortion and Rans...
Global CCISO Forum 2018 | Ondrej Krehel | The Era of Cyber Extortion and Rans...
EC-Council64 views
Web Application Security - "In theory and practice" by Jeremiah Grossman
Web Application Security - "In theory and practice"Web Application Security - "In theory and practice"
Web Application Security - "In theory and practice"
Year of pawnage - Ian trump by MAXfocus
Year of pawnage  - Ian trumpYear of pawnage  - Ian trump
Year of pawnage - Ian trump
MAXfocus 1.5K views
Exploring DarkWeb For Threat Intelligence (SACON May 2018) by Priyanka Aash
Exploring DarkWeb For Threat Intelligence (SACON May 2018)Exploring DarkWeb For Threat Intelligence (SACON May 2018)
Exploring DarkWeb For Threat Intelligence (SACON May 2018)
Priyanka Aash1.7K views
Verizon 2014 data breach investigation report and the target breach by Ulf Mattsson
Verizon 2014 data breach investigation report and the target breachVerizon 2014 data breach investigation report and the target breach
Verizon 2014 data breach investigation report and the target breach
Ulf Mattsson2.4K views
Information on Brute Force Attack by HTS Hosting
Information on Brute Force AttackInformation on Brute Force Attack
Information on Brute Force Attack
HTS Hosting77 views
The Equifax Data Breach - How to Tell if You've Been Impacted by CBIZ, Inc.
The Equifax Data Breach - How to Tell if You've Been ImpactedThe Equifax Data Breach - How to Tell if You've Been Impacted
The Equifax Data Breach - How to Tell if You've Been Impacted
CBIZ, Inc.1.9K views
The good, the bad and the ugly of the target data breach by Ulf Mattsson
The good, the bad and the ugly of the target data breachThe good, the bad and the ugly of the target data breach
The good, the bad and the ugly of the target data breach
Ulf Mattsson1.3K views
Why Two-Factor Isn't Enough by SecureAuth
Why Two-Factor Isn't EnoughWhy Two-Factor Isn't Enough
Why Two-Factor Isn't Enough
SecureAuth407 views
The Practice of Cyber Crime Investigations by Albert Hui
The Practice of Cyber Crime InvestigationsThe Practice of Cyber Crime Investigations
The Practice of Cyber Crime Investigations
Albert Hui1.4K views
Detecting Frauds and Identifying Security Challenge | by Money2Conf by Money 2Conf
Detecting Frauds and Identifying Security Challenge | by Money2ConfDetecting Frauds and Identifying Security Challenge | by Money2Conf
Detecting Frauds and Identifying Security Challenge | by Money2Conf
Money 2Conf110 views
Cyber crime - Understanding the Organised Criminal Group model by InnesGerrard
Cyber crime -  Understanding the Organised Criminal Group modelCyber crime -  Understanding the Organised Criminal Group model
Cyber crime - Understanding the Organised Criminal Group model
InnesGerrard183 views

Similar to Server-Side Second Factors: Approaches to Measuring User Authenticity

Combating Insider Threats – Protecting Your Agency from the Inside Out by
Combating Insider Threats – Protecting Your Agency from the Inside OutCombating Insider Threats – Protecting Your Agency from the Inside Out
Combating Insider Threats – Protecting Your Agency from the Inside OutLancope, Inc.
858 views47 slides
Recovering Your Customers From Ransomware Without Paying Ransom by
Recovering Your Customers From Ransomware Without Paying RansomRecovering Your Customers From Ransomware Without Paying Ransom
Recovering Your Customers From Ransomware Without Paying RansomSolarwinds N-able
962 views29 slides
SE-4110, Securing Identities in the Cloud, by Martin Ahlers by
SE-4110, Securing Identities in the Cloud, by Martin AhlersSE-4110, Securing Identities in the Cloud, by Martin Ahlers
SE-4110, Securing Identities in the Cloud, by Martin AhlersAMD Developer Central
1.6K views30 slides
Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Bar Associations by
Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Bar AssociationsCybersecurity Fundamentals for Bar Associations
Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Bar AssociationsNowSecure
496 views36 slides
Enhancing Your Security Infrastructure with Infoblox Threat Intelligence Webinar by
Enhancing Your Security Infrastructure with Infoblox Threat Intelligence WebinarEnhancing Your Security Infrastructure with Infoblox Threat Intelligence Webinar
Enhancing Your Security Infrastructure with Infoblox Threat Intelligence WebinarAdelaide Hill
263 views19 slides
A CISO's Guide to Cyber Liability Insurance by
A CISO's Guide to Cyber Liability InsuranceA CISO's Guide to Cyber Liability Insurance
A CISO's Guide to Cyber Liability InsuranceSecureAuth
507 views29 slides

Similar to Server-Side Second Factors: Approaches to Measuring User Authenticity(20)

Combating Insider Threats – Protecting Your Agency from the Inside Out by Lancope, Inc.
Combating Insider Threats – Protecting Your Agency from the Inside OutCombating Insider Threats – Protecting Your Agency from the Inside Out
Combating Insider Threats – Protecting Your Agency from the Inside Out
Lancope, Inc.858 views
Recovering Your Customers From Ransomware Without Paying Ransom by Solarwinds N-able
Recovering Your Customers From Ransomware Without Paying RansomRecovering Your Customers From Ransomware Without Paying Ransom
Recovering Your Customers From Ransomware Without Paying Ransom
Solarwinds N-able962 views
SE-4110, Securing Identities in the Cloud, by Martin Ahlers by AMD Developer Central
SE-4110, Securing Identities in the Cloud, by Martin AhlersSE-4110, Securing Identities in the Cloud, by Martin Ahlers
SE-4110, Securing Identities in the Cloud, by Martin Ahlers
Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Bar Associations by NowSecure
Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Bar AssociationsCybersecurity Fundamentals for Bar Associations
Cybersecurity Fundamentals for Bar Associations
NowSecure496 views
Enhancing Your Security Infrastructure with Infoblox Threat Intelligence Webinar by Adelaide Hill
Enhancing Your Security Infrastructure with Infoblox Threat Intelligence WebinarEnhancing Your Security Infrastructure with Infoblox Threat Intelligence Webinar
Enhancing Your Security Infrastructure with Infoblox Threat Intelligence Webinar
Adelaide Hill263 views
A CISO's Guide to Cyber Liability Insurance by SecureAuth
A CISO's Guide to Cyber Liability InsuranceA CISO's Guide to Cyber Liability Insurance
A CISO's Guide to Cyber Liability Insurance
SecureAuth507 views
Webinar: Why evasive zero day attacks are killing traditional sandboxing by Cyren, Inc
Webinar: Why evasive zero day attacks are killing traditional sandboxingWebinar: Why evasive zero day attacks are killing traditional sandboxing
Webinar: Why evasive zero day attacks are killing traditional sandboxing
Cyren, Inc427 views
Identity Live Sydney: Intelligent Authentication by ForgeRock
Identity Live Sydney: Intelligent Authentication Identity Live Sydney: Intelligent Authentication
Identity Live Sydney: Intelligent Authentication
ForgeRock160 views
Security from the Start: Optimizing Your Acquia Experience with Acquia Cloud... by Rachel Wandishin
 Security from the Start: Optimizing Your Acquia Experience with Acquia Cloud... Security from the Start: Optimizing Your Acquia Experience with Acquia Cloud...
Security from the Start: Optimizing Your Acquia Experience with Acquia Cloud...
Rachel Wandishin245 views
Cybercrime - Stealing in the Connected Age by dlblumen
Cybercrime - Stealing in the Connected AgeCybercrime - Stealing in the Connected Age
Cybercrime - Stealing in the Connected Age
dlblumen99 views
The Cloud 9 - Threat & Solutions 2016 by Bobby Dominguez by EC-Council
The Cloud 9 - Threat & Solutions 2016 by Bobby DominguezThe Cloud 9 - Threat & Solutions 2016 by Bobby Dominguez
The Cloud 9 - Threat & Solutions 2016 by Bobby Dominguez
EC-Council1.7K views
Intelligent Authentication (Identity Live Berlin 2018) by ForgeRock
Intelligent Authentication  (Identity Live Berlin 2018)Intelligent Authentication  (Identity Live Berlin 2018)
Intelligent Authentication (Identity Live Berlin 2018)
ForgeRock252 views
You think you are safe online. Are You? by TechGenie
You think you are safe online. Are You?You think you are safe online. Are You?
You think you are safe online. Are You?
TechGenie1K views
ExpoQA 2018 - Why software security has gotten worse? And what can we do abou... by Santhosh Tuppad
ExpoQA 2018 - Why software security has gotten worse? And what can we do abou...ExpoQA 2018 - Why software security has gotten worse? And what can we do abou...
ExpoQA 2018 - Why software security has gotten worse? And what can we do abou...
Santhosh Tuppad330 views
Amazon GuardDuty Threat Detection and Remediation by Amazon Web Services
Amazon GuardDuty Threat Detection and RemediationAmazon GuardDuty Threat Detection and Remediation
Amazon GuardDuty Threat Detection and Remediation
Amazon Web Services1.2K views

Recently uploaded

Affiliate Marketing by
Affiliate MarketingAffiliate Marketing
Affiliate MarketingNavin Dhanuka
20 views30 slides
cis5-Project-11a-Harry Lai by
cis5-Project-11a-Harry Laicis5-Project-11a-Harry Lai
cis5-Project-11a-Harry Laiharrylai126
9 views11 slides
Marketing and Community Building in Web3 by
Marketing and Community Building in Web3Marketing and Community Building in Web3
Marketing and Community Building in Web3Federico Ast
15 views64 slides
How to think like a threat actor for Kubernetes.pptx by
How to think like a threat actor for Kubernetes.pptxHow to think like a threat actor for Kubernetes.pptx
How to think like a threat actor for Kubernetes.pptxLibbySchulze1
7 views33 slides
ARNAB12.pdf by
ARNAB12.pdfARNAB12.pdf
ARNAB12.pdfArnabChakraborty499766
5 views83 slides
WITS Deck by
WITS DeckWITS Deck
WITS DeckW.I.T.S.
18 views22 slides

Recently uploaded(10)

Server-Side Second Factors: Approaches to Measuring User Authenticity