Detecting malware based on expired command-and-control traffic

In this article, we analyze the behavioral characteristics of domain name service queries produced by programs and then design an algorithm to detect malware with expired command-and-control domains based on the key feature of domain name service traffic, that is, repeatedly querying domain with a f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Futai Zou, Siyu Zhang, Linsen Li, Li Pan, Jianhua Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2017-07-01
Series:International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/1550147717720791
Description
Summary:In this article, we analyze the behavioral characteristics of domain name service queries produced by programs and then design an algorithm to detect malware with expired command-and-control domains based on the key feature of domain name service traffic, that is, repeatedly querying domain with a fixed interval. In total, 3027 malware command-and-control domains in the network traffic of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, affecting 249 hosts, were successfully detected, with a high precision of 92.0%. This algorithm can find those malware with expired command-and-control domains that are usually ignored by current research and would have important value for eliminating network security risks and improving network security environment.
ISSN:1550-1477