The Similarity Evidence
Explorer for Malware
A SCALABLE VISUALIZATION FOR
COMPARING MALWARE
ATTRIBUTES
Robert Gove
Senior Research Engineer, LABS | FAIRFAX, VA
2/18/2015 1
Meet the Presenter
Robert Gove is a Senior Research
Engineer at Invincea Labs. He is a
data visualization expert who has
recently worked on Cynomix, a web-
based community malware triage
tool. He has several years of
experience designing and
implementing novel visualizations to
support analysts in answering
complicated questions. Robert has a
Master of Science in Computer
Science from The University of
Maryland where his thesis was on
evaluating visualization tools for
citation network exploration.
Malware Analysis Use Case
SITUATION:
Major corporation hacked
• Stack of malware to analyze
• Need to compare to other
malware
Scale Is Overwhelming
Need to Compare Malware
comparison 1
%s Connected!
/fetch.py
cmd.exe
__getmainargs
_controlfp
add “HKCU”
advapi32.dll
AllocConsole
Analog
CloseHandle
cmd.exe
CreatePipe
DeleteFileA
FileSize
InternetConnect
InternetOpen
InternetOpenUrl
kernel32.dll
read failed
lstrlenA
.
.
.
focal sample
%s Connected!
/fetch.py
cmd.exe
__getmainargs
_controlfp
Accept:*/*
add “HKCU”
advapi32.dll
Analog
CloseHandle
cmd.exe
CreatePipe
DeleteFileA
FileSize
InternetConnect
InternetOpen
InternetOpenUrl
kernel32.dll
read failed
lstrcatA
.
.
.
comparison 2
/install
__getmainargs
__p__commode
_controlfp
_strnicmp
add “HKCU”
advapi32
Analog
cd-rom
check service
CloseServiceHandle
cmdpath=
CopyPathA
DeleteFileA
Install service
HTTPQueryInfo
InternetOpen
InternetOpenUrl
read failed
lstrcatA
.
.
.
comparison n
/install
__getmainargs
__p__fmode
_initterm
_strcmpi
Accept:*/*
add “HKCU”
advapi32
tcp
cmdpath=
CopyFileA
FileSize
Install service
HTTPQueryInfo
InternetOpen
InternetOpenUrl
read failure
lstrcatA
msvcrt.dll
net start
.
.
.
…
Existing Malware Viz Tools
compare system calls
[Trinius et al, 2009]
[Saxe et al, 2012]
individual malware
[Conit et al, 2008]
[Quist and Lierbrock,
2009]
[Domas, 2012]
Similarity Evidence Explorer
for Malware
Similarity Histogram
overview of
similarity with
focal sample
Venn Diagram List
Relationship Matrix
SEEM Demo
[ DEMO ]
try it yourself: www.cynomix.org
SEEM Conclusion
• Large-scale malware comparison
–Comparison overviews with histograms
–Detailed visualizations of comparisons
compare large group of malware
across sets of strings, DLLs, and function
calls
Interested? www.cynomix.org
cynomix@invincea.comSupported by DARPA award
FA8750-10-C-0169 as part of Cyber Genome
Questions?
@Invincea
@InvinceaLabs
@rpgove
Learn more about Invincea’s solutions or visit our website at www.invincea.com
Contact us at 1-855-511-5967

Webcast: The Similarity Evidence Explorer For Malware

  • 1.
    The Similarity Evidence Explorerfor Malware A SCALABLE VISUALIZATION FOR COMPARING MALWARE ATTRIBUTES Robert Gove Senior Research Engineer, LABS | FAIRFAX, VA 2/18/2015 1
  • 2.
    Meet the Presenter RobertGove is a Senior Research Engineer at Invincea Labs. He is a data visualization expert who has recently worked on Cynomix, a web- based community malware triage tool. He has several years of experience designing and implementing novel visualizations to support analysts in answering complicated questions. Robert has a Master of Science in Computer Science from The University of Maryland where his thesis was on evaluating visualization tools for citation network exploration.
  • 3.
    Malware Analysis UseCase SITUATION: Major corporation hacked • Stack of malware to analyze • Need to compare to other malware
  • 4.
  • 5.
    Need to CompareMalware comparison 1 %s Connected! /fetch.py cmd.exe __getmainargs _controlfp add “HKCU” advapi32.dll AllocConsole Analog CloseHandle cmd.exe CreatePipe DeleteFileA FileSize InternetConnect InternetOpen InternetOpenUrl kernel32.dll read failed lstrlenA . . . focal sample %s Connected! /fetch.py cmd.exe __getmainargs _controlfp Accept:*/* add “HKCU” advapi32.dll Analog CloseHandle cmd.exe CreatePipe DeleteFileA FileSize InternetConnect InternetOpen InternetOpenUrl kernel32.dll read failed lstrcatA . . . comparison 2 /install __getmainargs __p__commode _controlfp _strnicmp add “HKCU” advapi32 Analog cd-rom check service CloseServiceHandle cmdpath= CopyPathA DeleteFileA Install service HTTPQueryInfo InternetOpen InternetOpenUrl read failed lstrcatA . . . comparison n /install __getmainargs __p__fmode _initterm _strcmpi Accept:*/* add “HKCU” advapi32 tcp cmdpath= CopyFileA FileSize Install service HTTPQueryInfo InternetOpen InternetOpenUrl read failure lstrcatA msvcrt.dll net start . . . …
  • 6.
    Existing Malware VizTools compare system calls [Trinius et al, 2009] [Saxe et al, 2012] individual malware [Conit et al, 2008] [Quist and Lierbrock, 2009] [Domas, 2012]
  • 7.
  • 8.
  • 9.
  • 10.
  • 11.
    SEEM Demo [ DEMO] try it yourself: www.cynomix.org
  • 12.
    SEEM Conclusion • Large-scalemalware comparison –Comparison overviews with histograms –Detailed visualizations of comparisons compare large group of malware across sets of strings, DLLs, and function calls Interested? www.cynomix.org cynomix@invincea.comSupported by DARPA award FA8750-10-C-0169 as part of Cyber Genome
  • 13.
    Questions? @Invincea @InvinceaLabs @rpgove Learn more aboutInvincea’s solutions or visit our website at www.invincea.com Contact us at 1-855-511-5967