Modern Malware FOR DUMmIES‰ by Lawrence C. Miller, CISSP These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Modern Malware For Dummies® Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. 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ISBN: 978-1-118-18254-3 (pbk); ISBN: 978-1-118-18413-4 (ebk) Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 About This Book ........................................................................1 Foolish Assumptions .................................................................1 How This Book Is Organized ....................................................2 Chapter 1: Understanding the Modern Threat Landscape ........................................................2 Chapter 2: Defining Modern Malware ...........................2 Chapter 3: Why Traditional Security Solutions Fail to Control Modern Malware ................................2 Chapter 4: What the Next-Generation Firewall Brings to the Fight against Malware ..........................2 Chapter 5: Creating Modern Malware Protection Policies .......................................................3 Chapter 6: Ten Best Practices for Controlling Modern Malware ..........................................................3 Glossary ............................................................................3 Icons Used in This Book ............................................................3 Where to Go from Here .............................................................4 Chapter 1: Understanding the Modern Threat Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 The State of Today’s Intrusions ...............................................6 The Changing Face of Hackers .................................................8 The Lifecycle of a Modern Attack ............................................9 Infection ............................................................................9 Persistence .....................................................................11 Communication ..............................................................11 Command and control ..................................................12 The Central Role of Malware ..................................................12 Key Security Lessons and Opportunities..............................13 Chapter 2: Defining Modern Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Recognizing Key Characteristics of Modern Malware ........15 Distributed and fault-tolerant ......................................17 Multifunctional ...............................................................18 Persistent and intelligent ..............................................18 These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. iv Modern Malware For Dummies Threats to the Enterprise........................................................18 Spamming botnets .........................................................18 DDoS and botnets ..........................................................19 Financial botnets ...........................................................20 Targeted intrusions .......................................................20 Botnets: Attack or Defend? .....................................................21 Analyzing the Indestructible Botnet: TDL-4..........................23 Chapter 3: Why Traditional Security Solutions Fail to Control Modern Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 The Rapidly Expanding Attack Surface .................................27 Unintended Consequences of Social Media..........................28 A Lack of Visibility ...................................................................29 Signature Avoidance ................................................................31 Targeted Malware ....................................................................32 Polymorphism ..........................................................................33 Traditional Network Controls Are Ineffective ......................33 Firewalls ..........................................................................33 Intrusion prevention .....................................................34 Proxies ............................................................................34 Crossing Legacy Security Silos ...............................................35 Network versus host-based approaches ....................35 Integrating multi-disciplinary solutions ......................36 Chapter 4: What the Next-Generation Firewall Brings to the Fight against Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Introducing the Next-Generation Firewall ............................37 Preventing Infection with Next-Generation Firewalls ...................................................39 Reduce the attack surface ............................................39 Control modern malware enabling applications .......40 Prevent use of circumventors ......................................43 Protect remote users.....................................................45 Investigate unknowns....................................................45 Finding Infected Hosts with Next-Generation Firewalls ......47 Find command-and-control traffic ...............................47 Automate tracking and correlation .............................48 These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. v Table of Contents Chapter 5: Creating Modern Malware Protection Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Safe Enablement through Smart Policies ..............................49 Application controls ......................................................50 User controls ..................................................................53 Network controls ...........................................................54 Endpoint controls ..........................................................55 Addressing Mobile and Remote Users ..................................56 Chapter 6: Ten Best Practices for Controlling Modern Malware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 Ensure Visibility into All Traffic .............................................57 Restrict High-Risk Applications .............................................58 Selectively Decrypt and Inspect SSL Traffic .........................59 Sandbox Unknown Executables and Attachments ..............60 Block URLs That Are Known to Host Malware .....................61 Enforce Drive-by-Download Protection ................................62 Block Known Exploits and Malware ......................................62 Limit Traffic for Common Applications to Default Ports ....................................................................63 Evaluate Network and Application Events in Context ........63 Investigate Unknowns .............................................................64 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book and of the people who worked on it. For details on how to create a custom For Dummies book for your business or organization, contact info@ dummies.biz. For details on licensing the For Dummies brand for products or serv- ices, contact BrandedRights&[email protected]. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Vertical Websites Senior Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees Senior Project Editor: Zoë Wykes Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers Editorial Manager: Rev Mengle Proofreaders: Rebecca Denoncour, Acquisitions Editor: Amy Fandrei Jessica Kramer Business Development Representative: Special Help from Palo Alto Networks: Karen Hattan Wade Williamson Custom Publishing Project Specialist: Michael Sullivan Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Director, Acquisitions Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services Business Development Lisa Coleman, Director, New Market and Brand Development These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Introduction M odern malware has transformed into highly sophisti- cated network applications and has, in the process, changed the world of enterprise security and how networks are attacked. These threats are experts at remaining hidden from traditional security while exhibiting an intelligence, resiliency, and scale that has never before been seen in mal- ware. Controlling these threats will require multiple security disciplines. While no single solution will solve the problem of networked malware on its own, the next-generation firewall provides the unique visibility and control of, and the true inte- gration of, threat-prevention disciplines needed to find and stop these threats — both known and unknown. About This Book This book provides an in-depth examination of real-world attacks and modern malware threats, the shortcomings of legacy security solutions, the capabilities of next-generation firewalls, and security best practices. Foolish Assumptions First and foremost, despite the title of this book, we assume that you know a little something about network security and Internet-based threats. We know, it’s a bit of an oxymoron, but “Modern Malware For Geniuses” just isn’t that catchy! As such, this book is written primarily for technical readers who are evaluating potential new security solutions to address modern malware threats. These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. 2 Modern Malware For Dummies How This Book Is Organized This book consists of six short chapters and a glossary. Here’s a brief look at what awaits you! Chapter 1: Understanding the Modern Threat Landscape We begin with some real-world examples of high-profile mal- ware invasions. You also get a glimpse into the psyche of a cybercriminal to understand what motivates such a person, and we walk you through the threat lifecycle — from cradle to . . . well, the enterprise network. Chapter 2: Defining Modern Malware In this chapter, we describe the characteristics of modern malware and botnets and dissect some of these evil critters! Chapter 3: Why Traditional Security Solutions Fail to Control Modern Malware Chapter 3 explains why legacy port-based firewalls and other security solutions are largely ineffective in the fight against modern malware. Chapter 4: What the Next- Generation Firewall Brings to the Fight against Malware Here we take a deep dive into the advanced capabilities and fea- tures of the next-generation firewall and lay out a practical meth- odology to protect your enterprise from malware and botnets. These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.