A Comprehensive Survey on Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Detection Techniques

The increase in number of people using the Internet leads to increased cyberattack opportunities.Advanced Persistent Threats,or APTs,are among the most dangerous targeted cyberattacks.APT attacks utilize various advanced tools and techniques for attacking targets with specific goals.Even countries with advanced technologies,like the US,Russia,the UK,and India,are susceptible to this targeted attack.APT is a sophisticated attack that involves multiple stages and specific strategies.Besides,TTP(Tools,Techniques,and Procedures)involved in the APT attack are commonly new and developed by an attacker to evade the security system.However,APTs are generally implemented in multiple stages.If one of the stages is detected,we may apply a defense mechanism for subsequent stages,leading to the entire APT attack failure.The detection at the early stage of APT and the prediction of the next step in the APT kill chain are ongoing challenges.This survey paper will provide knowledge about APT attacks and their essential steps.This follows the case study of known APT attacks,which will give clear information about the APT attack process—in later sections,highlighting the various detection methods defined by different researchers along with the limitations of the work.Data used in this article comes from the various annual reports published by security experts and blogs and information released by the enterprise networks targeted by the attack.

A Cyber Kill Chain Approach for Detecting Advanced Persistent Threats

The number of cybersecurity incidents is on the rise despite significant investment in security measures.The existing conventional security approaches have demonstrated limited success against some of the more complex cyber-attacks.This is primarily due to the sophistication of the attacks and the availability of powerful tools.Interconnected devices such as the Internet of Things(IoT)are also increasing attack exposures due to the increase in vulnerabilities.Over the last few years,we have seen a trend moving towards embracing edge technologies to harness the power of IoT devices and 5G networks.Edge technology brings processing power closer to the network and brings many advantages,including reduced latency,while it can also introduce vulnerabilities that could be exploited.Smart cities are also dependent on technologies where everything is interconnected.This interconnectivity makes them highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks,especially by the Advanced Persistent Threat(APT),as these vulnerabilities are amplified by the need to integrate new technologies with legacy systems.Cybercriminals behind APT attacks have recently been targeting the IoT ecosystems,prevalent in many of these cities.In this paper,we used a publicly available dataset on Advanced Persistent Threats(APT)and developed a data-driven approach for detecting APT stages using the Cyber Kill Chain.APTs are highly sophisticated and targeted forms of attacks that can evade intrusion detection systems,resulting in one of the greatest current challenges facing security professionals.In this experiment,we used multiple machine learning classifiers,such as Naïve Bayes,Bayes Net,KNN,Random Forest and Support Vector Machine(SVM).We used Weka performance metrics to show the numeric results.The best performance result of 91.1%was obtained with the Naïve Bayes classifier.We hope our proposed solution will help security professionals to deal with APTs in a timely and effective manner.

An Effective Threat Detection Framework for Advanced Persistent Cyberattacks

Recently,with the normalization of non-face-to-face online environments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,the possibility of cyberattacks through endpoints has increased.Numerous endpoint devices are managed meticulously to prevent cyberattacks and ensure timely responses to potential security threats.In particular,because telecommuting,telemedicine,and teleeducation are implemented in uncontrolled environments,attackers typically target vulnerable endpoints to acquire administrator rights or steal authentication information,and reports of endpoint attacks have been increasing considerably.Advanced persistent threats(APTs)using various novel variant malicious codes are a form of a sophisticated attack.However,conventional commercial antivirus and anti-malware systems that use signature-based attack detectionmethods cannot satisfactorily respond to such attacks.In this paper,we propose a method that expands the detection coverage inAPT attack environments.In this model,an open-source threat detector and log collector are used synergistically to improve threat detection performance.Extending the scope of attack log collection through interworking between highly accessible open-source tools can efficiently increase the detection coverage of tactics and techniques used to deal with APT attacks,as defined by MITRE Adversarial Tactics,Techniques,and Common Knowledge(ATT&CK).We implemented an attack environment using an APT attack scenario emulator called Carbanak and analyzed the detection coverage of Google Rapid Response(GRR),an open-source threat detection tool,and Graylog,an open-source log collector.The proposed method expanded the detection coverage against MITRE ATT&CK by approximately 11%compared with that conventional methods.

Advanced Persistent Threat Detection and Mitigation Using Machine Learning Model

The detection of cyber threats has recently been a crucial research domain as the internet and data drive people’s livelihood.Several cyber-attacks lead to the compromise of data security.The proposed system offers complete data protection from Advanced Persistent Threat(APT)attacks with attack detection and defence mechanisms.The modified lateral movement detection algorithm detects the APT attacks,while the defence is achieved by the Dynamic Deception system that makes use of the belief update algorithm.Before termination,every cyber-attack undergoes multiple stages,with the most prominent stage being Lateral Movement(LM).The LM uses a Remote Desktop protocol(RDP)technique to authenticate the unauthorised host leaving footprints on the network and host logs.An anomaly-based approach leveraging the RDP event logs on Windows is used for detecting the evidence of LM.After extracting various feature sets from the logs,the RDP sessions are classified using machine-learning techniques with high recall and precision.It is found that the AdaBoost classifier offers better accuracy,precision,F1 score and recall recording 99.9%,99.9%,0.99 and 0.98%.Further,a dynamic deception process is used as a defence mechanism to mitigateAPTattacks.A hybrid encryption communication,dynamic(Internet Protocol)IP address generation,timing selection and policy allocation are established based on mathematical models.A belief update algorithm controls the defender’s action.The performance of the proposed system is compared with the state-of-the-art models.

基于超图Transformer的APT攻击威胁狩猎网络模型

针对物联网环境中高级持续性威胁(APT)具有隐蔽性强、持续时间长、更新迭代快等特点,传统被动检测模型难以对其进行有效搜寻的问题,提出了一种基于超图Transformer的APT攻击威胁狩猎(HTTN)模型,能够在时间跨度长、信息隐蔽复杂的物联网系统中快速定位和发现APT攻击痕迹。该模型首先将输入的网络威胁情报(CTI)日志图和物联网系统内核审计日志图编码为超图,经超图神经网络(HGNN)层计算日志图的全局信息和节点特征;然后由Transformer编码器提取超边位置特征;最后对超边进行匹配计算相似度分数,从而实现物联网系统网络环境下APT攻击的威胁狩猎。在物联网仿真环境下的实验结果表明,提出的HTTN模型与目前主流的图匹配神经网络相比均方误差降低约20%,Spearman等级相关系数提升约0.8%,匹配精度提升约1.2%。

APT攻击与检测研究

随着网络在社会的应用越来越广泛和深入,信息安全的重要性也得到越来越多的关注,高级持续性威胁(Advanced Persistent Threat,APT)已成为高等级网络安全威胁的主要组成部分,其相对传统安全威胁具有隐蔽性强、时间跨度久、针对性强等特点,对传统安全防御体系造成严重威胁。该文介绍历史上一些典型的APT攻击案例,梳理APT的攻击特点和典型流程,最后探讨现有的对抗APT比较有效的检测方法。

基于传染病和网络流模型分析APT攻击对列车控制系统的影响

高级可持续威胁(APT)是目前工业控制系统面临的主要威胁之一。APT攻击利用计算机设备漏洞入侵列车控制网络,感染并且扩散到网络中的其他设备,影响系统正常运行,因此评价APT攻击对列车控制系统的影响非常必要。提出一种基于传染病模型和网络流理论结合的APT攻击影响分析方法。首先,分析在APT攻击的不同阶段设备节点状态之间的转化规则,结合传染病理论建立APT攻击传播模型,研究攻击过程中的节点状态变化趋势;其次,把设备节点的状态变化融入网络流模型中,研究APT攻击过程中设备节点状态变化对列车控制网络中列车移动授权信息流的影响;最后,结合列车控制系统的信息物理耦合关系,分析APT攻击对列控系统整体性能的影响。仿真实验展现了APT攻击过程中节点状态变化的趋势,验证该方法在分析APT病毒软件在列车控制网络中的传播过程对列车控制系统整体性能影响的有效性,为管理者制定防御方案提供依据,提升列车控制系统信息安全水平。

Detecting APT-Exploited Processes through Semantic Fusion and Interaction Prediction

Considering the stealthiness and persistence of Advanced Persistent Threats(APTs),system audit logs are leveraged in recent studies to construct system entity interaction provenance graphs to unveil threats in a host.Rule-based provenance graph APT detection approaches require elaborate rules and cannot detect unknown attacks,and existing learning-based approaches are limited by the lack of available APT attack samples or generally only perform graph-level anomaly detection,which requires lots of manual efforts to locate attack entities.This paper proposes an APT-exploited process detection approach called ThreatSniffer,which constructs the benign provenance graph from attack-free audit logs,fits normal system entity interactions and then detects APT-exploited processes by predicting the rationality of entity interactions.Firstly,ThreatSniffer understands system entities in terms of their file paths,interaction sequences,and the number distribution of interaction types and uses the multi-head self-attention mechanism to fuse these semantics.Then,based on the insight that APT-exploited processes interact with system entities they should not invoke,ThreatSniffer performs negative sampling on the benign provenance graph to generate non-existent edges,thus characterizing irrational entity interactions without requiring APT attack samples.At last,it employs a heterogeneous graph neural network as the interaction prediction model to aggregate the contextual information of entity interactions,and locate processes exploited by attackers,thereby achieving fine-grained APT detection.Evaluation results demonstrate that anomaly-based detection enables ThreatSniffer to identify all attack activities.Compared to the node-level APT detection method APT-KGL,ThreatSniffer achieves a 6.1%precision improvement because of its comprehensive understanding of entity semantics.

Insider threat detection approach for tobacco industry based on heterogeneous graph embedding

In the tobacco industry,insider employee attack is a thorny problem that is difficult to detect.To solve this issue,this paper proposes an insider threat detection method based on heterogeneous graph embedding.First,the interrelationships between logs are fully considered,and log entries are converted into heterogeneous graphs based on these relationships.Second,the heterogeneous graph embedding is adopted and each log entry is represented as a low-dimensional feature vector.Then,normal logs and malicious logs are classified into different clusters by clustering algorithm to identify malicious logs.Finally,the effectiveness and superiority of the method is verified through experiments on the CERT dataset.The experimental results show that this method has better performance compared to some baseline methods.

Beyond Defense: Proactive Approaches to Disaster Recovery and Threat Intelligence in Modern Enterprises

As cyber threats keep changing and business environments adapt, a comprehensive approach to disaster recovery involves more than just defensive measures. This research delves deep into the strategies required to respond to threats and anticipate and mitigate them proactively. Beginning with understanding the critical need for a layered defense and the intricacies of the attacker’s journey, the research offers insights into specialized defense techniques, emphasizing the importance of timely and strategic responses during incidents. Risk management is brought to the forefront, underscoring businesses’ need to adopt mature risk assessment practices and understand the potential risk impact areas. Additionally, the value of threat intelligence is explored, shedding light on the importance of active engagement within sharing communities and the vigilant observation of adversary motivations. “Beyond Defense: Proactive Approaches to Disaster Recovery and Threat Intelligence in Modern Enterprises” is a comprehensive guide for organizations aiming to fortify their cybersecurity posture, marrying best practices in proactive and reactive measures in the ever-challenging digital realm.

一种应对APT攻击的安全架构:异常发现

威胁是一种对特定系统、组织及其资产造成破坏的潜在因素,反映的是攻击实施者依照其任务需求对被攻击对象长期持续地施以各种形式攻击的过程.面对高级可持续威胁(advanced persistent threat,APT),在其造成严重经济损失之前,现有的安全架构无法协助防御者及时发现威胁的存在.在深入剖析威胁的外延和内涵的基础上,详细探讨了威胁防御模型.提出了一种应对APT攻击的安全防御理论架构:异常发现,以立足解决威胁发现的难题.异常发现作为防御策略和防护部署工作的前提,通过实时多维地发现环境中存在的异常、解读未知威胁、分析攻击实施者的目的,为制定具有针对性的应对策略提供必要的信息.设计并提出了基于异常发现的安全体系技术架构:"慧眼",通过高、低位协同监测的技术,从APT攻击的源头、途径和终端3个层面监测和发现.

基于大数据分析的APT攻击检测研究综述

高级持续性威胁(APT,advanced persistent threat)已成为高安全等级网络的最主要威胁之一,其极强的针对性、伪装性和阶段性使传统检测技术无法有效识别,因此新型攻击检测技术成为APT攻击防御领域的研究热点。首先,结合典型APT攻击技术和原理,分析攻击的6个实施阶段,并归纳攻击特点;然后,综述现有APT攻击防御框架研究的现状,并分析网络流量异常检测、恶意代码异常检测、社交网络安全事件挖掘和安全事件关联分析等4项基于网络安全大数据分析的APT攻击检测技术的研究内容与最新进展;最后,提出抗APT攻击的系统综合防御框架和智能反馈式系统安全检测框架,并指出相应技术在应对APT攻击过程中面临的挑战和下一步发展方向。

基于攻击图的APT脆弱节点评估方法

高级可持续性威胁(advanced persistent threat,APT)具有行为隐蔽性强、攻击周期持久的特点,增加了攻击检测的难度。据此,引入攻击图理论评估网络系统在APT攻击下的脆弱节点,提出了一种基于攻击图的APT脆弱节点评估方法,有效地提高了发现攻击的概率。对APT攻击行为的异常特征进行提取和定义,对目标网络系统建立风险属性攻击图(risk attribute attack graph,RAAG)模型;基于APT攻击行为特征的脆弱性对系统节点的行为脆弱性进行评估,并以通用漏洞评分系统(common vulnerability scoring system,CVSS)标准做为参照评估系统节点的通联脆弱性;基于上述2个方面的评估,计算系统中各节点的整体脆弱性,并发现目标网络系统在面向APT攻击时的脆弱节点。实验结果表明,所提方法能够对APT攻击行为特征进行合理量化,对系统节点的脆弱性进行有效评估,在APT攻击检测率上有较好表现。

基于树型结构的APT攻击预测方法

近年来,高级持续性威胁已成为威胁网络安全的重要因素之一。然而APT攻击手段复杂多变,且具有极强的隐蔽能力,使得目前常用的基于特征匹配的边界防护技术显得力不从心。面对APT攻击检测防御难题,提出了一种基于树型结构的APT攻击预测方法。首先结合杀伤链模型构建原理,分析APT攻击阶段性特征,针对攻击目标构建窃密型APT攻击模型;然后,对海量日志记录进行关联分析形成攻击上下文,通过引入可信度和DS证据组合规则确定攻击事件,计算所有可能的攻击路径。实验结果表明,利用该方法设计的预测模型能够有效地对攻击目标进行预警,具有较好的扩展性和实用性。

面向企业网的APT攻击特征分析及防御技术探讨

近年来,APT攻击成为信息安全业界的关注热点。针对APT攻击特征分析传统网络安全防御体系对其失效的原因,并在此基础上提出APT攻击防御方案。该防御方案包括基础安全防御和动态防御体系,力求构建从保护、检测、响应到恢复的信息安全防御体系。最后,对APT攻击给业界带来的影响进行了思考和展望。

云环境下APT攻击的防御方法综述

云计算以其快速部署、弹性配置等特性吸引了大量的组织和机构使用,然而近期出现的高级可持续性威胁(Advanced Persistent Threat,APT)相比传统的网络攻击具有攻击持续性、高隐蔽性、长期潜伏等特性,为实现云平台的信息资产的安全与隐私保护带来了极大的冲击和挑战。因此,如何有效地防护APT对云平台的攻击成为云安全领域亟待解决的问题。在阐述APT攻击的基本概念、攻击流程与攻击方法的基础之上,分析了APT新特性带来的多重安全挑战,并介绍了国内外在APT防护方面的研究进展。随后针对APT的安全挑战,提出了云平台下APT防护的建议框架,该框架融入了事前和事中防御策略,同时利用大数据挖掘综合分析可能存在的APT攻击以及用于事中的威胁定位与追踪。最后,介绍了安全框架中的关键技术的研究进展,分析了现有技术的优势与不足之处,并探讨了未来的研究方向。

基于GAN-LSTM的APT攻击检测

高级持续性威胁(Advanced Persistent Threat,APT)带来的危害日趋严重。传统的APT检测方法针对的攻击模式比较单一,处理的APT攻击的时间跨度相对较短,没有完全体现出APT攻击的时间序列性,因此当攻击数据样本较少、攻击持续时间较长时准确率很低。为了解决这个问题,文中提出了基于生成式对抗网络(Generative Adversarial Netwokrs,GAN)和长短期记忆网络(Long Short-term Memory,LSTM)的APT攻击检测方法。一方面,基于GAN模拟生成攻击数据,为判别模型生成大量攻击样本,从而提升模型的准确率;另一方面,基于LSTM模型的记忆单元和门结构保证了APT攻击序列中存在相关性且时间间距较大的序列片段之间的特征记忆。利用Keras开源框架进行模型的构建与训练,以准确率、误报率、ROC曲线等技术指标,对攻击数据生成和APT攻击序列检测分别进行对比实验分析。通过生成式模型生成模拟攻击数据进而优化判别式模型,使得原有判别模型的准确率提升了2.84%,与基于循环神经网络(Recurrent Neural Network,RNN)的APT攻击序列检测方法相比,文中方法在检测准确率上提高了0.99个百分点。实验结果充分说明了基于GAN-LSTM的APT攻击检测算法可以通过引入生成式模型来提升样本容量,从而提高判别模型的准确率并减少误报率;同时,相较于其他时序结构,利用LSTM模型检测APT攻击序列有更好的准确率和更低的误报率,从而验证了所提方法的可行性和有效性。

基于大数据分析的APT防御方法

大数据时代下,将大数据分析技术引入高级可持续性攻击防御体系是必然趋势.充分考虑高级可持续性攻击防护框架的需求,充分考虑所有可能的攻击模式和防护方法,基于大数据分析技术提出了一个参考性的APT防护框架.利用大数据技术对监控检测数据进行深度关联分析,不仅能够综合分析目标系统是否存在被攻击的风险,实现事前预警,也可对当前受到的攻击威胁进行综合研判,更加准确地理解意图和反向追踪,从而及时采取相关的策略阻止攻击,实现事中阻断;还可同时对安全审计信息进行大数据分析,根据追踪路径重现数据的历史状态和演变过程,实现事后审计溯源.

基于LDA模型的海量APT通信日志特征研究

为实现高级持续性威胁(APT)的通信检测,提出一种对服务器端和主机端日志数据的检测方法。通过建立IP地址数据库,采用DBSCAN聚类算法对海量日志数据进行收集和处理得到异常通信日志。利用高级持续性威胁14种通信特征的隐含狄利克雷分布(LDA)建模对异常通信日志进行检测。实验结果表明,与潜在语义分析和概率潜在语义分析检测模型相比,LDA建模提高了APT通信检测的效率和准确度。

针对APT攻击中恶意USB存储设备的防护方案研究

文章针对APT攻击中的恶意USB存储设备设计了一套安全防护方案。该方案构造USB存储设备的白名单,只允许白名单中的USB存储设备与计算机系统进行交互,从而防止APT攻击中定制的恶意USB存储设备对主机的非授权访问;将USB存储设备与单位各级员工绑定,在特定主机对特定的USB存储设备写保护,有效阻止了APT攻击者利用社会工程学的方法诱导内部人员对系统中数据进行越权访问;通过监控向USB存储设备复制数据的进程行为,防止隐藏的恶意程序暗中窃取系统中的数据。文章方案可以很好地防止系统中的数据遭到窃取和泄露,具有良好的实用性。文章方案进行了相关的功能测试,测试结果表明该方案可行。