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IPC Traffic Analysis

D3-IPCTA
D3-IPCTA (IPC Traffic Analysis)

Definition

Analyzing standard inter process communication (IPC) protocols to detect deviations from normal protocol activity.

Synonyms: IPC Analysis .

How it works

Inter process communication enables applications or threads to share data. This can involve one or more computers. Monitoring IPC in your environment can reveal abnormal or malicious activity. IPC can occur within a single computer or between multiple computers remotely through network protocols. Thus there are multiple ways to collect and monitor these exchanges between processes. A network protocol analyzer may monitor and parse SMB network traffic to record system activity. A host based monitoring agent may monitor IPC activity contained within a single host to look for deviations from standard usages.

Examples

  • SMB
  • Zeromq
  • Java RMI API

Considerations

  • IPC can generate substantial amounts of data, and it may not be feasible to collect all of it.
  • IPC may occur over loopback interfaces or direct memory access granted by the operating system.
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References

All
External Knowledge Base
Patent

The following references were used to develop the IPC Traffic Analysis knowledge-base article.

(Note: the consideration of references does not imply specific functionality exists in an offering.)

CAR-2015-04-001: Remotely Scheduled Tasks via AT

Reference Type: External Knowledge Base Organization: MITRE Author: MITRE
Source: https://car.mitre.org/analytics/CAR-2015-04-001/

CAR-2013-01-003: SMB Events Monitoring

Reference Type: External Knowledge Base Organization: MITRE Author: MITRE
Source: https://car.mitre.org/analytics/CAR-2013-01-003/

CAR-2013-05-003: SMB Write Request

Reference Type: External Knowledge Base
Source: https://car.mitre.org/analytics/CAR-2013-05-003/

CAR-2013-05-005: SMB Copy and Execution

Reference Type: External Knowledge Base
Source: https://car.mitre.org/analytics/CAR-2013-05-005/

CAR-2013-09-003: SMB Session Setups

Reference Type: External Knowledge Base Organization: MITRE Author: MITRE
Source: https://car.mitre.org/analytics/CAR-2013-09-003/

CAR-2014-03-001: SMB Write Request - NamedPipes

Reference Type: External Knowledge Base Organization: MITRE Author: MITRE
Source: https://car.mitre.org/analytics/CAR-2014-03-001/

Security System with Methodology for Interprocess Communication Control

MITRE Comments

This patent describes a technique for monitoring interprocess communications to prevent malicious applications from requesting system services. API calls are monitored to detect malicious applications attempting to open a communication channel (port) to access system services or sending messages to other applications using user32 API functions. These requests are examined against an external rules engine or whitelist, matches deny or block access and produce an error message such as connection refused or service not available.

Reference Type: Patent Organization: Check Point Software Tech Inc Author: Gregor Freund
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20040199763

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