Malware Emulation File for Breach and Attack Simulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional breach and attack simulation systems are inefficient in simulating real-world malware infections, leading to lengthy assessment execution times and a lack of realism in kill chain assessments due to sequential execution of independent audits and context switching between native API calls.
Innovation Solution
A pipeline that takes a malware binary as input and generates an equivalent executable file in terms of IOCs and TTPs, producing a more realistic malware infection simulation by executing a single process that spawns subsequent processes and threads, thereby speeding up assessment execution and enhancing realism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional BAS systems use sequential execution of independent audits to simulate malware infections, then the assessment can cover multiple attack vectors, but the assessment execution time becomes lengthy and the simulation lacks realism
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple independent audits into a single unified malware emulation process. Instead of executing audits sequentially as independent tasks, the system combines them into one continuous simulation where the malware executes as a single process that spawns child processes and threads, maintaining contextual continuity throughout the entire attack simulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic process spawning to replace static sequential audit execution. The malware emulation dynamically creates and manages process hierarchies where parent processes spawn child processes and threads based on the actual malware behavior, allowing the simulation to adapt its structure in real-time rather than following a fixed sequential script.
2Reliability
If conventional BAS systems execute audits sequentially with context switching between native API calls, then the system can maintain structured assessment flow, but the simulation fails to capture real-world malware behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a simplified copy of the malware's execution behavior rather than replicating the complex original malware itself. The system generates a streamlined emulation that captures the essential attack vectors and behavioral patterns of the malware without replicating its full complexity, making the simulation manageable while maintaining realism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the malware execution into distinct functional components represented as process trees. Each major malware function is represented as a separate process or thread within the emulation, allowing the system to manage complexity by breaking down the overall execution model into manageable segments that can be independently analyzed and controlled.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and computer readable media for breach and attack simulation. An example method includes detonating malware within a sandbox; analyzing one or more impacts of the malware based on detonating the malware within the sandbox; generating, based on analyzing the one or more impacts of the malware, an executable malware emulation file; executing the executable malware emulation file on an endpoint system featuring an installed endpoint detection and response (EDR)-under-test solution; analyzing the performance of the EDR-under-test in response to executing the executable malware emulation file; and reporting one or more test results based on analyzing the performance of the EDR-under-test.