Malware Stagnation File for Early Ransomware Containment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to effectively detect and mitigate crypto-ransomware attacks early in the encryption process, leading to potential data loss and the risk of not receiving decryption keys even after payment of a ransom.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a malware stagnation file that maps ransomware requests to non-existent memory addresses, allowing the ransomware to encrypt these addresses indefinitely, thereby providing time for the system to react and locate decryption keys without paying the ransom.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional file system is used without protection mechanisms, then the crypto-ransomware can quickly encrypt all files, but the system lacks the ability to detect and respond to the attack in time
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-allocates a reserved file with a specific cluster address range before any ransomware attack occurs. This reserved file acts as a pre-prepared trap that the ransomware will inevitably encounter during its encryption process, allowing immediate detection and response without requiring complex real-time analysis or decision-making
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If the system tries to detect ransomware by monitoring file encryption processes, then it can identify attacks, but the detection may occur too late to prevent data loss
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively creates a known-good reserved file with specific characteristics (particular cluster addresses, known content) that serves as a guaranteed trap for ransomware. When ransomware encounters this predetermined file, it immediately reveals its malicious nature through its encryption behavior, providing early detection before widespread data loss occurs
3Ease of operation
If the system pays the ransom to recover encrypted data, then data access may be restored, but there is no guarantee that decryption keys will be provided
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains a reserved file with known-good data in a specific cluster address range before any attack occurs. This pre-prepared file serves as a backup that can be immediately restored if ransomware encrypts other files, providing a guaranteed data recovery mechanism that does not depend on paying ransoms or receiving decryption keys from attackers
Data Source
AI summary
A method is provided for mitigating a malware attack to a data processing system. The method may include initializing a malware stagnation file in the data processing system. The malware stagnation file can generate a range of addresses that do not exist in the memory and are not mapped to any applications of the data processing system. During operation of the data processing system, an address may be received by the data processing system for a read or write operation to the memory. If it is determined that the address defines an entry point of the malware stagnation file, it may be assumed that the requestor is malware and the malware stagnation file translates the address to an address that does not exist in the memory and allow access. The malware stagnation file may provide the non-existent addresses to the malware for as long as the malware makes requests.