Botnets

1. by Mohammad Mehedy Masud GUEST LECTURE Botnets

2. Botnets • Introduction • History • How to they spread? • What do they do? • Why care about them? • Detection and Prevention

3. Bot • The term 'bot' comes from 'robot'. • In computing paradigm, 'bot' usually refers to an automated process. • There are good bots and bad bots. • Example of good bots: • Google bot • Game bot • Example of bad bots: • Malicious software that steals information

4. Botmaster IRC Server IRC channel Code Server IRC channel C&C traffic Updates Attack Vulnerable machines BotNet Botnet • Network of compromised/bot-infected machines (zombies) under the control of a human attacker (botmaster)

5. History • In the beginning, there were only good bots. • ex: google bot, game bot etc. • Later, bad people thought of creating bad bots so that they may • Send Spam and Phishing emails • Control others pc • Launch attacks to servers (DDOS) • Many malicious bots were created • SDBot/Agobot/Phatbot etc. • Botnets started to emerge

6. GT bots combined mIRC client, hacking scripts & tools (port -scanning, DDos) W32/Agobot bot family added modular design and significant functionality W32/Mytob hybrid bot, major e-mail outbreak GM (by Greg, Operator) recognized as first IRC bot. Entertained clients with games RPCSS W32/PrettyPark 1st worm to use IRC as C&C. DDoS capable W32/Sdbot First family of bots developed as a single binary Russian named sd W32/Spybot family emerged TimeLine 2006 1989 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Present 2005

7. Cases in the news • Axel Gembe • Author or Agobot (aka Gaobot, Polybot) • 21 yrs old • Arrested from Germany in 2004 under Germany’s computer Sabotage law • Jeffry Parson • Released a variation of Blaster Worm • Infected 48,000 computers worldwide • 18 yrs old • Arrested , sentenced to 18 month & 3yrs of supervised released

8. How The Botnet Grows

9. How The Botnet Grows

10. How The Botnet Grows

11. How The Botnet Grows

12. Recruiting New Machines • Exploit a vulnerability to execute a short program (exploits) on victim’s machine • Buffer overflows, email viruses, Trojans etc. • Exploit downloads and installs actual bot • Bot disables firewall and A/V software • Bot locates IRC server, connects, joins • Typically need DNS to find out server’s IP address • Authentication password often stored in bot binary • Botmaster issues commands

13. Recruiting New Machines

14. What Is It Used For • Botnets are mainly used for only one thing

15. How Are They Used • Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks • Sending Spams • Phishing (fake websites) • Addware (Trojan horse) • Spyware (keylogging, information harvesting) • Storing pirated materials

16. Example : SDBot • Open-source Malware • Aliases • Mcafee: IRC-SDBot, Symantec: Backdoor.Sdbot • Infection • Mostly through network shares • Try to connect using password guessing (exploits weak passwords) • Signs of Compromise • SDBot copies itself to System folder - Known filenames: Aim95.exe, Syscfg32.exe etc.. • Registry entries modified • Unexpected traffic : port 6667 or 7000 • Known IRC channels: Zxcvbnmas.i989.net etc..

17. Example : RBot • First of the Bot families to use encryption • Aliases • Mcafee: W32/SDbot.worm.gen.g, Symantec: W32.Spybot.worm • Infection • Network shares, exploiting weak passwords • Known s/w vulnerabilities in windows (e.g.: lsass buffer overflow vulnerability) • Signs of Compromise • copies itself to System folder - Known filenames: wuamgrd.exe, or random names • Registry entries modified • Terminate A/V processes • Unexpected traffic: 113 or other open ports

18. Example : Agobot • Modular Functionality • Rather than infecting a system at once, it proceeds through three stages (3 modules) • infect a client with the bot & open backdoor • shut down A/V tools • block access to A/V and security related sites • After successful completion of one stage, the code for the next stage is downloaded • Advantage? • developer can update or modify one portion/module without having to rewrite or recompile entire code

19. Example : Agobot • Aliases • Mcafee: W32/Gaobot.worm, Symantec: W32.HLLW.Gaobot.gen • Infection • Network shares, password guessing • P2P systems: Kazaa etc.. • Protocol: WASTE • Signs of Compromise • System folder: svshost.exe, sysmgr.exe etc.. • Registry entries modification • Terminate A/V processes • Modify %System\drivers\etc\hosts file • Symantec/ Mcafee’s live update sites are redirected to 127.0.0.1

20. Example : Agobot • Signs of Compromise (contd..) • Theft of information: seek and steal CD keys for popular games like “Half-Life”, “NFS” etc.. • Unexpected Traffic: open ports to IRC server etc.. • Scanning: Windows, SQL server etc..

21. DDos Attack • Goal: overwhelm victim machine and deny service to its legitimate clients • DoS often exploits networking protocols • Smurf: ICMP echo request to broadcast address with spoofed victim’s address as source • Ping of death: ICMP packets with payloads greater than 64K crash older versions of Windows • SYN flood: “open TCP connection” request from a spoofed address • UDP flood: exhaust bandwidth by sending thousands of bogus UDP packets

22. DDoS attack Attacker • Coordinated attack to specified host Master (IRC Server) machines Zombie machines Victim

23. Why DDoS attack? • Extortion • Take down systems until they pay • Works sometimes too! • Example: 180 Solutions – Aug 2005 • Botmaster used bots to distribute 180solutions addware • 180solution shutdown botmaster • Botmaster threatened to take down 180solutions if not paid • When not paid, botmaster use DDoS • 180Solutions filed Civil Lawsuit against hackers

24. Botnet Detection • Host Based • Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) • Anomaly Detection • IRC Nicknames • HoneyPot and HoneyNet

25. Host-based detection • Virus scanning • Watching for Symptoms • Modification of windows hosts file • Random unexplained popups • Machine slowness • Antivirus not working • Watching for Suspicious network traffic • Since IRC is not commonly used, any IRC traffic is suspicious. Sniff these IRC traffic • Check if the host is trying to communicate to any Command and Control (C&C) Center • Through firewall logs, denied connections

26. Network Intrusion Detection Systems • Example Systems: Snort and Bro • Sniff network packets, looks for specific patterns (called signatures) • If any pattern matches that of a malicious binary, then block that traffic and raise alert • These systems can efficiently detect virus/worms having known signatures • Can't detect any malware whose signature is unknown (i.e., zero day attack)

27. Anomaly Detection • Normal traffic has some patterns • Bandwidth/Port usage • Byte-level characteristics (histograms) • Protocol analysis – gather statistics about • TCP/UDP src, dest address • Start/end of flow, Byte count • DNS lookup • First learn normal traffic pattern • Then detect any anomaly in that pattern • Example systems: SNMP, NetFlow • Problems: • Poisoning • Stealth

28. IRC Nicknames • Bots use weird nicknames • But they have certain pattern (really!) • If we can learn that pattern, we can detect bots & botnets • Example nicknames: • USA|016887436 or DE|028509327 • Country | Random number (9 digit) • RBOT|XP|48124 • Bot type | Machine Type | Random number • Problem: May be defeated by changing the nickname randomly

29. HoneyPot and HoneyNet • HoneyPot is a vulnerable machine, ready to be attacked • Example: unpatched windows 2000 or windows XP • Once attacked, the malware is caught inside • The malware is analyzed, its activity is monitored • When it connects to the C&C server, the server’s identity is revealed

30. HoneyPot and HoneyNet • Thus many information about the bot is obtained • C&C server address, master commands • Channel, Nickname, Password • Now Do the following • make a fake bot • join the same IRC channel with the same nickname/password • Monitor who else are in the channel, thus observer the botnet • Collect statistics – how many bots • Collect sensitive information – who is being attacked, when etc..

31. HoneyPot and HoneyNet • Finally, take down the botnet • HoneyNet: a network of honeypots (see the ‘HoneyNet Project’) • Very effective, worked in many cases • They also pose great security risk • If not maintained properly - Hacker may use them to attack others • Must be monitored cautiously

32. Summary • Today we have learned • What is botnet • How / why they are used • How to detect / prevent

33. Questions ?