System halts computer viruses, worms, before end-user stage

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/477.html

By Tony Fitzpatrick
Nov. 5, 2003 

A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has 
developed technology to stop malicious software - malware - such as 
viruses and worms long before it even has a chance to reach computers 
in the home and office. 

John Lockwood, Ph.D., an assistant professor of computer science at 
Washington University, and the graduate students that work in his 
research laboratory have developed a hardware platform called the 
Field-programmable Port Extender (FPX) that scans for malware 
transmitted over a network and filters out unwanted data.

"The FPX uses several patented technologies in order to scan for the 
signatures of malware quickly," said Lockwood. "Unlike existing 
network intrusion systems, the FPX uses hardware, not software, to 
scan data quickly. The FPX can scan each and every byte of every data 
packet transmitted through a network at a rate of 2.4 billion bits per 
second. In other words, the FPX could scan every word in the entire 
works of Shakespeare in about 1/60th of a second." 

Lockwood published his results in Military and Aerospace Programmable 
Logic Device (MALPD), Sept.,2003. 

The paper is dowloadable online at: 
http://www.arl.wustl.edu/~lockwood/publications/MAPLD_2003_e10_lockwood_p.pdf. 

Computer virus and Internet worm attacks are aggravating, costly, and 
a threat to our homeland security. Recent attacks by Nimba, Code Red, 
Slammer, SoBigF, and MSBlast have infected computers globally, clogged 
large computer networks, and degraded corporate productivity. It can 
take weeks to months for Information Technology staff to clean up all 
of the computers throughout a network after an outbreak. The direct 
cost to recover from just the 'Code Red version two' worm alone was 
$2.6 billion. 

The United States has come to depend on computers to support its 
critical infrastructure. The nation's power system, financial 
networks, and military infrastructure all rely on computers to 
operate. As a form of terrorism, a foreign agent could introduce a 
malignant worm or virus disguised as benign data to attack computers 
throughout a network. Terrorists could use this malware to bring down 
crucial components of our corporate infrastructure and military. 

In much the same way that a human virus spreads between people that 
come in contact, computer viruses and Internet worms spread when 
computers come in contact over the Internet. Viruses spread when a 
computer user downloads unsafe software, opens a malicious attachment, 
or exchanges infected computer programs over a network. An Internet 
Worm spreads over the network automatically when malicious software 
exploits one or more vulnerabilities in an operating system, a Web 
server, a database application, or an email exchange system. 

Existing firewalls do little to protect against such attacks. Once a 
few systems are compromised, they proceed to infect other machines, 
which in turn quickly spread throughout a network. 

"As is the case with the spread of a contagious disease like SARS, the 
number of infected computers will grow exponentially unless 
contained," Lockwood said. "The speed of today's computers and vast 
reach of the Internet, however, make a computer virus or Internet worm 
spread much faster than human diseases. In the case of SoBigF, over 
one million computers were infected within the first 24 hours and over 
200 million computers were infected within a week." 

Today, most Internet worms and viruses are not detected until after 
they reach an end-user's personal computer. It is difficult for 
companies, universities, and government agencies to maintain 
network-wide security. 

Unfair burden on end-users

"Placing the burden of detection on the end -user isn't efficient or 
trustworthy because individuals tend to ignore warnings about 
installing new protection software and the latest security updates, 
"Lockwood pointed out. "New vulnerabilities are discovered daily, but 
not all users take the time to download new patches the moment they 
are posted. It can take weeks for an IT department to eradicate old 
versions of vulnerable software running on end-system computers." 

The high speed of the FPX is possible because the logic on the FPX is 
implemented as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) circuits, Lockwood 
explained. These circuits are used to scan and filter Internet traffic 
for worms and viruses using FPGA circuits that operate in parallel. 
Lockwood's group has developed and implemented circuits that process 
the Internet protocol (IP) packets directly in hardware. They also 
have developed several circuits that rapidly scan streams of data for 
strings or regular expressions in order to find the signatures of 
malware carried within the payload of Internet packets. 

"On the FPX, the reconfigurable hardware can be dynamically 
reconfigured over the network to search for new attack patterns," 
Lockwood said. "Should a new Internet worm or virus be detected, 
multiple FPX devices can be immediately programmed to search for their 
signatures. Each FPX device then filters traffic passing over the 
network, so that it can immediately quarantine a virus or Internet 
worms within sub networks (subnets). By just installing a few such 
devices between subnets, a single device can protect thousands of 
users. By installing multiple devices at key locations throughout a 
network, large networks can be protected." 

A local St. Louis company, Global Velocity, is building commercial 
systems that use the FPX technology. The company is working with local 
companies, international corporations, universities, and the 
government to make plans to install systems in both local-area and 
wide-area networks. The device self-integrates easily into existing 
Gigabit Ethernet or Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks. 

The FPX itself fits within a rack-mounted chassis that can be 
installed in any network closet. When a virus or worm is detected, the 
system can either silently drop the malicious traffic or generate a 
pop-up message on an end-user's computer. An administrator uses a 
simple, web-based interface to control and configure the system. 



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