This thesis concerns anomaly detection as a mechanism for intrusion detection in a machine learning framework, using two kinds of audit data : system call traces and Unix shell command traces. Anomaly detection systems model the problem of intrusion detection as a problem of self-nonself discrimination problem. To be able to use machine learning algorithms for anomaly detection, precise definitions of two aspects namely, the learning model and the dissimilarity measure are required. The audit data considered in this thesis is intrinsically sequential. Thus the dissimilarity measure must be able to extract the temporal information in the data which in turn will be used for classification purposes. In this thesis, we study the application of a set of dissimilarity measures broadly termed as sequence kernels that are exclusively suited for such applications. This is done in conjunction with Instance Based learning algorithms (IBL) for anomaly detection. We demonstrate the performance of the system under a wide range of parameter settings and show conditions under which best performance is obtained. Finally, some possible future extensions to the work reported in this report are considered and discussed.

If not the most, one of the serious threats to data networks, particularly pervasive commercial networks such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) providers is Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack. Currently, majority of solutions for these attacks focus on observing detailed server state changes due to any or some of the incoming messages. This approach however requires significant amount of server’s memory and processing time. This results in detectors not being able to scale up to the network edge points that receive millions of connections (requests) per second. To solve this problem, it is desirable to design stateless detection mechanisms. One approach is to aggregate transactions into groups. This research focuses on stateless scalable DoS intrusion detection mechanisms to obviate keeping detailed state for connections while maintaining acceptable efficiency. To this end, we adopt a two-layer aggregation scheme termed Advanced Partial Completion Filters (APCF), an intrusion detection model that defends against DoS attacks without tracking state information of each individual connection. Analytical as well as simulation analysis is performed on the proposed APCF. A simulation test bed has been implemented in OMNET++ and through simulations it is observed that APCF gained notable detection rates in terms of false positive and true positive detections, as opposed to its predecessor PCF. Although further study is needed to relate APCF adjustments to a certain network situation, this research shows invaluable gain to mitigate intrusion detection from not so scalable state-full mechanisms to aggregate scalable approach.

Submitted by VINÍCIUS OLIVEIRA FERREIRA null (viniciusoliveira@acmesecurity.org) on 2016-05-18T20:29:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-mestrado-vinicius-oliveira-biblioteca-final.pdf: 1594758 bytes, checksum: 0dbb0d2dd3fca3ed2b402b19b73006e7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-05-20T16:27:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ferreira_vo_me_sjrp.pdf: 1594758 bytes, checksum: 0dbb0d2dd3fca3ed2b402b19b73006e7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-20T16:27:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ferreira_vo_me_sjrp.pdf: 1594758 bytes, checksum: 0dbb0d2dd3fca3ed2b402b19b73006e7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Os Sistemas de Detecção de Intrusão baseados em rede (NIDS) são tradicionalmente divididos em dois tipos de acordo com os métodos de detecção que empregam, a saber: (i) detecção por abuso e (ii) detecção por anomalia. Aqueles que funcionam a partir da detecção de anomalias têm como principal vantagem a capacidade de detectar novos ataques, no entanto, é possível elencar algumas dificuldades com o uso desta metodologia. Na detecção por anomalia, a análise das anomalias detectadas pode se tornar dispendiosa, uma vez que estas geralmente não apresentam informações claras sobre os eventos maliciosos que representam; ainda, NIDSs que se utilizam desta metodologia sofrem com a detecção de altas taxas de falsos positivos. Neste contexto, este trabalho apresenta um modelo para a classificação automatizada das anomalias detectadas por um NIDS. O principal objetivo é a classificação das anomalias detectadas em classes conhecidas de ataques. Com essa classificação pretende-se, além da clara identificação das anomalias, a identificação dos falsos positivos detectados erroneamente pelos NIDSs. Portanto, ao abordar os principais problemas envolvendo a detecção por anomalias, espera-se equipar os analistas de segurança com melhores recursos para suas análises. / Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) are traditionally divided into two types according to the detection methods they employ, namely (i) misuse detection and (ii) anomaly detection. The main advantage in anomaly detection is its ability to detect new attacks. However, this methodology has some downsides. In anomaly detection, the analysis of the detected anomalies is expensive, since they often have no clear information about the malicious events they represent; also, it suffers with high amounts of false positives detected. In this context, this work presents a model for automated classification of anomalies detected by an anomaly based NIDS. Our main goal is the classification of the detected anomalies in well-known classes of attacks. By these means, we intend the clear identification of anomalies as well as the identification of false positives erroneously detected by NIDSs. Therefore, by addressing the key issues surrounding anomaly based detection, our main goal is to equip security analysts with best resources for their analyses.

Security is one of the major issues in any network and on the Internet. It encapsulates many different areas, such as protecting individual users against intruders, protecting corporate systems against damage, and protecting data from intrusion. It is obviously impossible to make a network totally secure, as there are so many areas that must be protected. This thesis includes an evaluation of current techniques for internal misuse of computer systems, and tries to propose a new way of dealing with this problem. This thesis proposes that it is impossible to fully protect a computer network from intrusion, and shows how different methods are applied at differing levels of the OSI model. Most systems are now protected at the network and transport layer, with systems such as firewalls and secure sockets. A weakness, though, exists in the session layer that is responsible for user logon and their associated password. It is thus important for any highly secure system to be able to continually monitor a user, even after they have successfully logged into the system. This is because once an intruder has successfully logged into a system, they can use it as a stepping-stone to gain full access (often right up to the system administrator level). This type of login identifies another weakness of current intrusion detection systems, in that they are mainly focused on detecting external intrusion, whereas a great deal of research identifies that one of the main problems is from internal intruders, and from staff within an organisation. Fraudulent activities can often he identified by changes in user behaviour. While this type of behaviour monitoring might not be suited to most networks, it could be applied to high secure installations, such as in government, and military organisations. Computer networks are now one of the most rapidly changing and vulnerable systems, where security is now a major issue. A dynamic approach, with the capacity to deal with and adapt to abrupt changes, and be simple, will provide an effective modelling toolkit. Analysts must be able to understand how it works and be able to apply it without the aid of an expert. Such models do exist in the statistical world, and it is the purpose of this thesis to introduce them and to explain their basic notions and structure. One weakness identified is the centralisation and complex implementation of intrusion detection. The thesis proposes an agent-based approach to monitor the user behaviour of each user. It also proposes that many intrusion detection systems cannot cope with new types of intrusion. It thus applies Bayesian statistics to evaluate user behaviour, and predict the future behaviour of the user. The model developed is a unique application of Bayesian statistics, and the results show that it can improve future behaviour prediction than existing ARIMA models. The thesis argues that the accuracy of long-term forecasting questionable, especially in systems that have a rapid and often unexpected evolution and behaviour. Many of the existing models for prediction use long-term forecasting, which may not be the optimal type for intrusion detection systems. The experiments conducted have varied the number of users and the time interval used for monitoring user behaviour. These results have been compared with ARIMA, and an increased accuracy has been observed. The thesis also shows that the new model can better predict changes in user behaviour, which is a key factor in identifying intrusion detection. The thesis concludes with recommendations for future work, including how the statistical model could be improved. This includes research into changing the specification of the design vector for Bayesian. Another interesting area is the integration of standard agent communication agents, which will make the security agents more social in their approach and be able to gather information from other agents

O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar os riscos de ocorrências de intrusos em um sistema de computação em nuvem para sistemas distribuídos utilizando lógica nebulosa. A computação em nuvem é um tema que vem sendo bastante abordado e vem alavancando discussões calorosas, tanto na comunidade acadêmica quanto em palestras profissionais. Embora essa tecnologia esteja ganhando mercado, alguns estudiosos encontram-se céticos afirmando que ainda é cedo para se tirar conclusões. Isto se deve principalmente por causa de um fator crítico, que é a segurança dos dados armazenados na nuvem. Para esta dissertação, foi elaborado um sistema distribuído escrito em Java com a finalidade de controlar um processo de desenvolvimento colaborativo de software na nuvem, o qual serviu de estudo de caso para avaliar a abordagem de detecção de intrusos proposta. Este ambiente foi construído com cinco máquinas (sendo quatro máquinas virtuais e uma máquina real). Foram criados dois sistemas de inferência nebulosos, para análise de problemas na rede de segurança implementados em Java, no ambiente distribuído. Foram realizados diversos testes com o intuito de verificar o funcionamento da aplicação, apresentando um resultado satisfatório dentro dessa metodologia. / The objective of this study is to evaluate the risk of occurrence of intruders in a system of cloud computing at distributed systems using fuzzy logic. Cloud computing is a topic that has been widely discussed and has been leveraging heated discussions, both in academic and in professional speaking. Although this technology is gaining market share, some academics are incredulous saying that is too early to draw conclusions. This is mainly because of a critical factor, which is the security of data stored in the cloud. For this thesis, we designed a distributed system written in Java, with the purpose of controlling a process of softwares development in the cloud, wich served as a case study to evaluate the approach proposed intrusion detection. This environment was build with five machines (being four virtual machines and one real machine). It was created two fuzzy inference systems for analysis of problems in network security implemented in Java, in the distributed environment. Several tests were performed in order to verify the functionality of the application, presenting a satisfactory outcome within this methodology.

O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar os riscos de ocorrências de intrusos em um sistema de computação em nuvem para sistemas distribuídos utilizando lógica nebulosa. A computação em nuvem é um tema que vem sendo bastante abordado e vem alavancando discussões calorosas, tanto na comunidade acadêmica quanto em palestras profissionais. Embora essa tecnologia esteja ganhando mercado, alguns estudiosos encontram-se céticos afirmando que ainda é cedo para se tirar conclusões. Isto se deve principalmente por causa de um fator crítico, que é a segurança dos dados armazenados na nuvem. Para esta dissertação, foi elaborado um sistema distribuído escrito em Java com a finalidade de controlar um processo de desenvolvimento colaborativo de software na nuvem, o qual serviu de estudo de caso para avaliar a abordagem de detecção de intrusos proposta. Este ambiente foi construído com cinco máquinas (sendo quatro máquinas virtuais e uma máquina real). Foram criados dois sistemas de inferência nebulosos, para análise de problemas na rede de segurança implementados em Java, no ambiente distribuído. Foram realizados diversos testes com o intuito de verificar o funcionamento da aplicação, apresentando um resultado satisfatório dentro dessa metodologia. / The objective of this study is to evaluate the risk of occurrence of intruders in a system of cloud computing at distributed systems using fuzzy logic. Cloud computing is a topic that has been widely discussed and has been leveraging heated discussions, both in academic and in professional speaking. Although this technology is gaining market share, some academics are incredulous saying that is too early to draw conclusions. This is mainly because of a critical factor, which is the security of data stored in the cloud. For this thesis, we designed a distributed system written in Java, with the purpose of controlling a process of softwares development in the cloud, wich served as a case study to evaluate the approach proposed intrusion detection. This environment was build with five machines (being four virtual machines and one real machine). It was created two fuzzy inference systems for analysis of problems in network security implemented in Java, in the distributed environment. Several tests were performed in order to verify the functionality of the application, presenting a satisfactory outcome within this methodology.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RicardoKMG.pdf: 620624 bytes, checksum: 2265857dd8185aa481f6e9891ee2c38f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-07-11 / The increasing of the number of attacks in the computer networks has been treated with the increment of the resources that are applied directly in the active routers equip-ments of these networks. In this context, the firewalls had been consolidated as essential elements in the input and output control process of packets in a network. With the advent of intrusion detectors systems (IDS), efforts have been done in the direction to incorporate packets filtering based in standards of traditional firewalls. This integration incorporates the IDS functions (as filtering based on signatures, until then a passive element) with the already existing functions in firewall. In opposite of the efficiency due this incorporation in the blockage of signature known attacks, the filtering in the application level provokes a natural retard in the analyzed packets, and it can reduce the machine performance to filter the others packets because of machine resources demand by this level of filtering. This work presents models of treatment for this problem based in the packets re-routing for analysis by a sub-network with specific filterings. The suggestion of implementa- tion of this model aims reducing the performance problem and opening a space for the consolidation of scenes where others not conventional filtering solutions (spam blockage, P2P traffic control/blockage, etc.) can be inserted in the filtering sub-network, without inplying in overload of the main firewall in a corporative network / O aumento do n?mero de ataques a redes de computadores tem sido combatido com o incremento dos recursos aplicados diretamente nos equipamentos ativos de roteamento destas redes. Nesse contexto, os firewalls consolidaram-se como elementos essenciais no processo de controle de entrada e sa?da de pacotes em uma rede. O surgimento dos sistemas detectores de intrus?o (IDS) levou a esfor?os no sentido de incorporar a filtragem de pacotes baseada em padr?es ao firewall tradicional, integrando as fun??es do IDS (como a filtragem baseada em assinaturas, at? ent?o um elemento passivo) ?s fun??es j? existentes no firewall. Em contrapartida ? efici?ncia obtida atrav?s desta incorpora??o no bloqueio de ataques com assinaturas conhecidas, a filtragem no n?vel de aplica??o, al?m de provocar um retardo natural nos pacotes analisados, pode comprometer o desempenho da m?quina na filtragem dos demais pacotes, pela natural demanda por recursos da m?quina para este n?vel de filtragem. Essa tese apresenta modelos de tratamento deste problema, baseados no re-roteamento dos pacotes para an?lise por uma sub-rede de filtragens espec?ficas. A sugest?o de implementa??o deste modelo visa, al?m de amenizar o problema de desempenho supra-citado, abrir espa?o para a consolida??o de cen?rios em que outras solu??es de filtragem n?o convencionais (como ferramentas de bloqueio de SPAM, controle/bloqueio de tr?fego P2P, e outras) possam ser inseridas na sub-rede de filtragem, sem implicar em sobrecarga do firewall principal da rede corporativa

No description available.

Denna studie undersöker användningen av maskininlärning (ML), särskilt artificiella neurala nätverk (ANN), inom nätverksdetektering för att upptäcka och förebygga cyberattacker. Genom en systematisk litteraturgenomgång sammanställs och analyseras relevant forskning för att erbjuda insikter och vägledning för framtida studier. Forskningsfrågorna utforskar tillämpningen av maskininlärningsalgoritmer för att effektivt identifiera och förhindra nätverksattacker samt de utmaningar som uppstår vid användningen av ANN. Metoden innefattar en strukturerad sökning, urval och granskning av vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultaten visar att maskininlärningsalgoritmer kan effektivt användas för att bekämpa cyberattacker. Dock framkommer utmaningar kopplade till ANNs känslighet för störningar i nätverkstrafiken och det ökade behovet av stor datamängd och beräkningskraft. Studien ger vägledning för utveckling av tillförlitliga och kostnadseffektiva ANN-baserade lösningar inom nätverksdetektering. Genom att sammanställa och analysera befintlig forskning ger studien en djupare förståelse för tillämpningen av ML-algoritmer, särskilt ANN, inom cybersäkerhet. Detta bidrar till kunskapsutveckling och tillför en grund för framtida forskning inom området. Studiens betydelse ligger i att främja utvecklingen av effektiva lösningar för att upptäcka och förebygga nätverksattacker. / This research study investigates the application of machine learning (ML), specifically artificial neural networks (ANN), in network intrusion detection to identify and prevent cyber-attacks. The study employs a systematic literature review to compile and analyse relevant research, aiming to offer insights and guidance for future studies. The research questions explore the effectiveness of machine learning algorithms in detecting and mitigating network attacks, as well as the challenges associated with using ANN. The methodology involves conducting a structured search, selection, and review of scientific articles. The findings demonstrate the effective utilization of machine learning algorithms, particularly ANN, in combating cyber-attacks. The study also highlights challenges related to ANN's sensitivity to network traffic disturbances and the increased requirements for substantial data and computational power. The study provides valuable guidance for developing reliable and cost-effective solutions based on ANN for network intrusion detection. By synthesizing and analysing existing research, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of the practical application of machine learning algorithms, specifically ANN, in the realm of cybersecurity. This contributes to knowledge development and provides a foundation for future research in the field. The significance of the study lies in promoting the development of effective solutions for detecting and preventing network attacks.

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are considered as a vital component in network security architecture. The system allows the administrator to detect unauthorized use of, or attack upon a computer, network or telecommunication infrastructure. There is no second thought on the necessity of these systems however; their performance remains a critical question. This research has focussed on designing a high performance Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) model. The work begins with the evaluation of Snort, an open source NIDS considered as a de-facto IDS standard. The motive behind the evaluation strategy is to analyze the performance of Snort and ascertain the causes of limited performance. Design and implementation of high performance techniques are considered as the final objective of this research. Snort has been evaluated on highly sophisticated test bench by employing evasive and avoidance strategies to simulate real-life normal and attack-like traffic. The test-methodology is based on the concept of stressing the system and degrading its performance in terms of its packet handling capacity. This has been achieved by normal traffic generation; fussing; traffic saturation; parallel dissimilar attacks; manipulation of background traffic, e.g. fragmentation, packet sequence disturbance and illegal packet insertion. The evaluation phase has lead us to two high performance designs, first distributed hardware architecture using cluster-based adoption and second cascaded phenomena of anomaly-based filtration and signature-based detection. The first high performance mechanism is based on Dynamic Cluster adoption using refined policy routing and Comparator Logic. The design is a two tier mechanism where front end of the cluster is the load-balancer which distributes traffic on pre-defined policy routing ensuring maximum utilization of cluster resources. The traffic load sharing mechanism reduces the packet drop by exchanging state information between load-balancer and cluster nodes and implementing switchovers between nodes in case the traffic exceeds pre-defined threshold limit. Finally, the recovery evaluation concept using Comparator Logic also enhance the overall efficiency by recovering lost data in switchovers, the retrieved data is than analyzed by the recovery NIDS to identify any leftover threats. Intelligent Anomaly Detection Filtration (IADF) using cascaded architecture of anomaly-based filtration and signature-based detection process is the second high performance design. The IADF design is used to preserve resources of NIDS by eliminating large portion of the traffic on well defined logics. In addition, the filtration concept augment the detection process by eliminating the part of malicious traffic which otherwise can go undetected by most of signature-based mechanisms. We have evaluated the mechanism to detect Denial of Service (DoS) and Probe attempts based by analyzing its performance on Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) dataset. The concept has also been supported by time-based normalized sampling mechanisms to incorporate normal traffic variations to reduce false alarms. Finally, we have observed that the IADF has augmented the overall detection process by reducing false alarms, increasing detection rate and incurring lesser data loss. / National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Pakistan