[0001] Embodiments relate generally to wireless computer networks, and more particularly, but
not exclusively, to methods, systems and computer readable media for rogue device detection.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Devices that can access networks via wired or wireless connections have proliferated. As
a consequence, the variety of threats, devices, applications, and communication protocols has
also increased. Implementing and maintaining effective network security in dynamic and rapidly
changing network environments can be a challenge for users. Embodiments were conceived in
light of the above mentioned needs, challenges and/or limitations, among other things.
SUMMARY
[0003] In general, some implementations may include a system configured to detect rogue
devices attempting to access a network such as a wireless network.
[0004] One or more embodiments may include methods, systems and computer readable media
for rogue device detection. Some implementations may include a method. The method may
include automatically generating one or more dummy network identifiers associated with a
wireless network, advertising the one or more dummy network identifiers, and identifying a
device as a suspect device based on receiving a connection attempt to at least one of the one or
more dummy network identifiers by the device. The method can also include allocating a virtual
local area network within the wireless network to process traffic associated with the at least one
2
of the one or more dummy network identifiers, and monitoring network traffic of the suspect
device on the virtual local area network. The method can further include, if the monitored
network traffic meets an abnormality threshold, determining that the suspect device is a rogue
device, and performing an action to protect the wireless network from the rogue device.
[0005] In some implementations, generating the one or more dummy network identifiers can
include generating a dummy network identifier based on a keyword. In some implementations,
performing the action includes one or more of blocking access to the wireless network by the
rogue device or quarantining the rogue device to limit access to the wireless network.
[0006] In some implementations, performing the action includes transmitting an identifier of the
rogue device to one or more other devices coupled to the wireless network. In some
implementations, the determining includes transmitting, to a cloud-based network security
system remote from a wireless endpoint that performs the advertising, one or more parameters of
the monitored network traffic, and receiving, from the cloud-based network security system, an
indication that the monitored network traffic meets the abnormality threshold.
[0007] In some implementations, the identifying can be performed at a network device within
the wireless network that received a list of the one or more dummy network identifiers and that
determines that the device is a suspect device based on one or more attempts by the device to
connect to the one or more dummy network identifiers. In some implementations, the identifying
can be performed at a cloud-based network security system and the device can include a device
previously determined to be authentic by the cloud-based network security system. In some
implementations, the cloud-based network security system can determine that the device has
been compromised based on a connection attempt by the device to access the one or more
dummy network identifiers. In some implementations, the connection attempt can include a
3
plurality of attempts, and the device can be determined to be compromised when a count of the
plurality of attempts exceeds a threshold.
[0008] In some implementations, advertising the one or more dummy network identifiers via the
wireless network can include sending a command to a known access point within the wireless
network to advertise the one or more dummy network identifiers. The method can also include
sending a command to the known access point to stop advertising the one or more dummy
network identifiers and to listen for any endpoint devices attempting to access a network
identified by the one or more dummy network identifiers. The method can further include
identifying a physical location of the rogue device using a wireless location finding technique.
[0009] Some implementations can include a threat management system, comprising one or more
processors; and a nontransitory computer readable medium coupled to the one or more
processors, the nontransitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that,
when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform
operations. The operations can include automatically generating one or more dummy network
identifiers associated with a wireless network, and advertising the one or more dummy network
identifiers. The operations can also include identifying a device as a suspect device based on
receiving a connection attempt to at least one of the one or more dummy network identifiers by
the device, and monitoring network traffic of the suspect device on the network. The operations
can further include, if the monitored network traffic meets an abnormality threshold, determining
that the suspect device is a rogue device, and performing an action to protect the wireless
network from the rogue device.
[0010] In some implementations, generating the one or more dummy network identifiers
includes generating each dummy network identifier based on a keyword. In some
4
implementations, the action includes one or more of blocking access to the wireless network by
the rogue device or quarantining the rogue device to limit access to the wireless network.
[0011] In some implementations, the action includes transmitting an identity of the rogue device
to one or more other devices coupled to the wireless network. In some implementations, the
device is one of an endpoint device or an access point.
[0012] The operations can also include allocating a virtual local area network within the wireless
network to process traffic associated with the at least one of the one or more dummy network
identifiers. In some implementations, the determining includes transmitting, to a cloud-based
network security system remote from a wireless endpoint that performs the advertising, one or
more parameters of the monitored network traffic, and receiving, from the cloud-based network
security system, an indication that the monitored network traffic meets the abnormality
threshold.
[0013] Some implementations can include nontransitory computer readable medium having
stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or
more processors to perform operations. The operations can include automatically generating one
or more dummy network identifiers associated with a wireless network, and advertising the one
or more dummy network identifiers via the wireless network. The operations can also include
identifying a device as a suspect device based on receiving a connection attempt to one of the
one or more dummy network identifiers by the device, and monitoring network traffic of the
suspect device on the wireless network. The operations can further include, if the monitored
network traffic meets an abnormality threshold, determining that the suspect device is a rogue
device, and performing an action to protect the wireless network from the rogue device.
5
[0014] In some implementations, the instructions for determining include instructions for
transmitting, to a cloud-based network security system remote from a wireless endpoint that
performs the advertising, one or more parameters of the monitored network traffic, and
receiving, from the cloud-based network security system, an indication that the monitored
network traffic meets the abnormality threshold.
[0015] In some implementations, the instructions to perform the action further include
instructions to perform one or more of quarantining the rogue device to limit access to the
wireless network, or transmitting an identity of the rogue device to one or more other devices
coupled to the wireless network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a threat management system, in accordance with some
implementations.
[0017] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a threat management system, in accordance with some
implementations.
[0018] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a suspect device responding to a dummy network identifier,
in accordance with some implementations.
[0019] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example method for rogue device detection, in
accordance with some implementations.
[0020] FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example computing device configured for rogue access point
detection in accordance with at least one implementation.
6
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] Embodiments were conceived in light of the above mentioned needs, challenges and/or
limitations, among other things. In general, some implementations may help provide wireless
computer network security through rogue device detection.
[0022] Embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures. The
foregoing may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as
limited to the illustrated embodiments set forth herein.
[0023] All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
References to items in the singular should be understood to include items in the plural, and vice
versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise or clear from the text. Grammatical conjunctions are
intended to express any and all disjunctive and conjunctive combinations of conjoined clauses,
sentences, words, and the like, unless otherwise stated or clear from the context. Thus, the term
“or” should generally be understood to mean “and/or” and so forth.
[0024] Recitation of ranges of values herein are not intended to be limiting, referring instead
individually to any and all values falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and
each separate value within such a range is incorporated into the specification as if it were
individually recited herein. The words “about,” “approximately” or the like, when accompanying
a numerical value, are to be construed as indicating a deviation as would be appreciated by one
of ordinary skill in the art to operate satisfactorily for an intended purpose. Similarly, words of
approximation such as “approximately” or “substantially” when used in reference to physical
characteristics, should be understood to contemplate a range of deviations that would be
appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art to operate satisfactorily for a corresponding use,
7
function, purpose, or the like. Ranges of values and/or numeric values are provided herein as
examples only, and do not constitute a limitation on the scope of the described embodiments.
Where ranges of values are provided, they are also intended to include each value within the
range as if set forth individually, unless expressly stated to the contrary. The use of any and all
examples, or exemplary language (“e.g.,” “such as,” or the like) provided herein, is intended
merely to better illuminate the embodiments and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the
embodiments. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any unclaimed
element as essential to the practice of the embodiments.
[0025] In the following description, it is understood that terms such as “first,” “second,” “top,”
“bottom,” “up,” “down,” and the like, are words of convenience and are not to be construed as
limiting terms.
[0026] It should also be understood that endpoints, devices, compute instances or the like that
are referred to as “within” an enterprise network may also be “associated with” the enterprise
network, e.g., where such assets are outside an enterprise gateway but nonetheless managed by
or in communication with a threat management facility or other centralized security platform for
the enterprise network. Thus, any description referring to an asset within the enterprise network
should be understood to contemplate a similar asset associated with the enterprise network
regardless of location in a network environment unless a different meaning is explicitly provided
or otherwise clear from the context.
[0027] As described herein, a threat management system may use a Sensor, Events, Analytics,
and Response (SEAR) approach to protect enterprises against cybersecurity threats.
[0028] Fig. 1 depicts a block diagram of a threat management system 101 providing protection
against a plurality of threats, such as malware, viruses, spyware, cryptoware, adware, Trojans,
8
spam, intrusion, policy abuse, improper configuration, vulnerabilities, improper access,
uncontrolled access, and more. A threat management facility 100 may communicate with,
coordinate, and control operation of security functionality at different control points, layers, and
levels within the system 101. A number of capabilities may be provided by a threat management
facility 100, with an overall goal to intelligently use the breadth and depth of information that is
available about the operation and activity of compute instances and networks as well as a variety
of available controls. Another overall goal is to provide protection needed by an organization that
is dynamic and able to adapt to changes in compute instances and new threats. In embodiments,
the threat management facility 100 may provide protection from a variety of threats to a variety
of compute instances in a variety of locations and network configurations.
[0029] Just as one example, users of the threat management facility 100 may define and enforce
policies that control access to and use of compute instances, networks and data. Administrators
may update policies such as by designating authorized users and conditions for use and access.
The threat management facility 100 may update and enforce those policies at various levels of
control that are available, such as by directing compute instances to control the network traffic
that is allowed to traverse firewalls and wireless access points, applications and data available
from servers, applications and data permitted to be accessed by endpoints, and network resources
and data permitted to be run and used by endpoints. The threat management facility 100 may
provide many different services, and policy management may be offered as one of the services.
[0030] Turning to a description of certain capabilities and components of the threat management
system 101, an exemplary enterprise facility 102 may be or may include any networked
computer-based infrastructure. For example, the enterprise facility 102 may be corporate,
commercial, organizational, educational, governmental, or the like. As home networks get more
9
complicated, and include more compute instances at home and in the cloud, an enterprise facility
102 may also or instead include a personal network such as a home or a group of homes. The
enterprise facility’s 102 computer network may be distributed amongst a plurality of physical
premises such as buildings on a campus, and located in one or in a plurality of geographical
locations. The configuration of the enterprise facility as shown is merely exemplary and it will be
understood that there may be any number of compute instances, less or more of each type of
compute instances, and other types of compute instances. As shown, the exemplary enterprise
facility 102 compute instances include a firewall 10, a wireless access point 11, an endpoint 12, a
server 14, a mobile device 16, an appliance or Internet of Things (IOT) device 18, a cloud
computing instance 19, and a server 20. Again, the compute instances 10-20 depicted are
exemplary, and there may be any number or types of compute instances 10-20 in a given
enterprise facility. For example, in addition to the elements depicted in the enterprise facility
102, there may be one or more gateways, bridges, wired networks, wireless networks, virtual
private networks, other compute instances, and so on.
[0031] The threat management facility 100 may include certain facilities, such as a policy
management facility 112, security management facility 122, update facility 120, definitions
facility 114, network access rules facility 124, remedial action facility 128, detection techniques
facility 130, application protection facility 150, asset classification facility 160, entity model
facility 162, event collection facility 164, event logging facility 166, analytics facility 168,
dynamic policies facility 170, identity management facility 172, and marketplace management
facility 174, as well as other facilities. For example, there may be a testing facility, a threat
research facility, and other facilities. It should be understood that the threat management facility
100 may be implemented in whole or in part on a number of different compute instances, with
10
some parts of the threat management facility on different compute instances in different
locations. For example, some or all of one or more of the various facilities 100 and/or 112-174
may be provided as part of a security agent S that is included in software running on a compute
instance 10-26 within the enterprise facility. Some or all of one or more of the facilities 100
and/or 112-174 may be provided on the same physical hardware or logical resource as a gateway,
such as a firewall 10, or wireless access point 11. Some or all of one or more of the facilities may
be provided on one or more cloud servers that are operated by the enterprise or by a security
service provider, such as the cloud computing instance 109.
[0032] In embodiments, a marketplace provider 199 may make available one or more additional
facilities to the enterprise facility 102 via the threat management facility 100. The marketplace
provider 199 may communicate with the threat management facility 100 via the marketplace
interface facility 174 to provide additional functionality or capabilities to the threat management
facility 100 and compute instances 10-26. A marketplace provider 199 may be selected from a
number of providers in a marketplace of providers that are available for integration or
collaboration via the marketplace interface facility 174. A given marketplace provider 199 may
use the marketplace interface facility 174 even if not engaged or enabled from or in a
marketplace. As non-limiting examples, the marketplace provider 199 may be a third party
information provider, such as a physical security event provider; the marketplace provider 199
may be a system provider, such as a human resources system provider or a fraud detection
system provider; the marketplace provider 199 may be a specialized analytics provider; and so
on. The marketplace provider 199, with appropriate permissions and authorization, may receive
and send events, observations, inferences, controls, convictions, policy violations, or other
information to the threat management facility. For example, the marketplace provider 199 may
11
subscribe to and receive certain events, and in response, based on the received events and other
events available to the marketplace provider 199, send inferences to the marketplace interface,
and in turn to the analytics facility 168, which in turn may be used by the security management
facility 122.
[0033] The identity provider 158 may be any remote identity management system or the like
configured to communicate with an identity management facility 172, e.g., to confirm identity of
a user as well as provide or receive other information about users that may be useful to protect
against threats. In general, the identity provider may be any system or entity that creates,
maintains, and manages identity information for principals while providing authentication
services to relying party applications, e.g., within a federation or distributed network. The
identity provider may, for example, offer user authentication as a service, where other
applications, such as web applications, outsource the user authentication step to a trusted identity
provider.
[0034] In embodiments, the identity provider 158 may provide user identity information, such as
multi-factor authentication, to a SaaS application. Centralized identity providers such as
Microsoft Azure, may be used by an enterprise facility instead of maintaining separate identity
information for each application or group of applications, and as a centralized point for
integrating multifactor authentication. In embodiments, the identity management facility 172
may communicate hygiene, or security risk information, to the identity provider 158. The
identity management facility 172 may determine a risk score for a user based on the events,
observations, and inferences about that user and the compute instances associated with the user.
If a user is perceived as risky, the identity management facility 172 can inform the identity
provider 158, and the identity provider 158 may take steps to address the potential risk, such as
12
to confirm the identity of the user, confirm that the user has approved the SaaS application
access, remediate the user’s system, or such other steps as may be useful.
[0035] In embodiments, threat protection provided by the threat management facility 100 may
extend beyond the network boundaries of the enterprise facility 102 to include clients (or client
facilities) such as an endpoint 22 outside the enterprise facility 102, a mobile device 26, a cloud
computing instance 109, or any other devices, services or the like that use network connectivity
not directly associated with or controlled by the enterprise facility 102, such as a mobile
network, a public cloud network, or a wireless network at a hotel or coffee shop. While threats
may come from a variety of sources, such as from network threats, physical proximity threats,
secondary location threats, the compute instances 10-26 may be protected from threats even
when a compute instance 10-26 is not connected to the enterprise facility 102 network, such as
when compute instances 22, 26 use a network that is outside of the enterprise facility 102 and
separated from the enterprise facility 102, e.g., by a gateway, a public network, and so forth.
[0036] In some implementations, compute instances 10-26 may communicate with cloud
applications, such as a SaaS application 156. The SaaS application 156 may be an application
that is used by but not operated by the enterprise facility 102. Exemplary commercially available
SaaS applications 156 include Salesforce, Amazon Web Services (AWS) applications, Google
Apps applications, Microsoft Office 365 applications and so on. A given SaaS application 156
may communicate with an identity provider 158 to verify user identity consistent with the
requirements of the enterprise facility 102. The compute instances 10-26 may communicate with
an unprotected server (not shown) such as a web site or a third-party application through an
internetwork 154 such as the Internet or any other public network, private network or
combination of these.
13
[0037] In embodiments, aspects of the threat management facility 100 may be provided as a
stand-alone solution. In other embodiments, aspects of the threat management facility 100 may
be integrated into a third-party product. An application programming interface (e.g. a source
code interface) may be provided such that aspects of the threat management facility 100 may be
integrated into or used by or with other applications. For instance, the threat management facility
100 may be stand-alone in that it provides direct threat protection to an enterprise or computer
resource, where protection is subscribed to directly 100. Alternatively, the threat management
facility may offer protection indirectly, through a third-party product, where an enterprise may
subscribe to services through the third-party product, and threat protection to the enterprise may
be provided by the threat management facility 100 through the third-party product.
[0038] The security management facility 122 may provide protection from a variety of threats by
providing, as non-limiting examples, endpoint security and control, email security and control,
web security and control, reputation-based filtering, machine learning classification, control of
unauthorized users, control of guest and non-compliant computers, and more.
[0039] The security management facility 122 may provide malicious code protection to a
compute instance. The security management facility 122 may include functionality to scan
applications, files, and data for malicious code, remove or quarantine applications and files,
prevent certain actions, perform remedial actions, as well as other security measures. Scanning
may use any of a variety of techniques, including without limitation signatures, identities,
classifiers, and other suitable scanning techniques. In embodiments, the scanning may include
scanning some or all files on a periodic basis, scanning an application when the application is
executed, scanning data transmitted to or from a device, scanning in response to predetermined
actions or combinations of actions, and so forth. The scanning of applications, files, and data
14
may be performed to detect known or unknown malicious code or unwanted applications.
Aspects of the malicious code protection may be provided, for example, in the security agent of
an endpoint 12, in a wireless access point 11 or firewall 10, as part of application protection 150
provided by the cloud, and so on.
[0040] In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide for email security
and control, for example to target spam, viruses, spyware and phishing, to control email content,
and the like. Email security and control may protect against inbound and outbound threats,
protect email infrastructure, prevent data leakage, provide spam filtering, and more. Aspects of
the email security and control may be provided, for example, in the security agent of an endpoint
12, in a wireless access point 11 or firewall 10, as part of application protection 150 provided by
the cloud, and so on.
[0041] In an embodiment, security management facility 122 may provide for web security and
control, for example, to detect or block viruses, spyware, malware, unwanted applications, help
control web browsing, and the like, which may provide comprehensive web access control
enabling safe, productive web browsing. Web security and control may provide Internet use
policies, reporting on suspect compute instances, security and content filtering, active monitoring
of network traffic, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) filtering, and the like. Aspects of the web
security and control may be provided, for example, in the security agent of an endpoint 12, in a
wireless access point 11 or firewall 10, as part of application protection 150 provided by the
cloud, and so on.
[0042] In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide for network access
control, which generally controls access to and use of network connections. Network control
may stop unauthorized, guest, or non-compliant systems from accessing networks, and may
15
control network traffic that is not otherwise controlled at the client level. In addition, network
access control may control access to virtual private networks (VPN), where VPNs may, for
example, include communications networks tunneled through other networks and establishing
logical connections acting as virtual networks. In embodiments, a VPN may be treated in the
same manner as a physical network. Aspects of network access control may be provided, for
example, in the security agent of an endpoint 12, in a wireless access point 11 or firewall 10, as
part of application protection 150 provided by the cloud, e.g., from the threat management
facility 100 or other network resource(s).
[0043] In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide for host intrusion
prevention through behavioral monitoring and/or runtime monitoring, which may guard against
unknown threats by analyzing application behavior before or as an application runs. This may
include monitoring code behavior, application programming interface calls made to libraries or
to the operating system, or otherwise monitoring application activities. Monitored activities may
include, for example, reading and writing to memory, reading and writing to disk, network
communication, process interaction, and so on. Behavior and runtime monitoring may intervene
if code is deemed to be acting in a manner that is suspicious or malicious. Aspects of behavior
and runtime monitoring may be provided, for example, in the security agent of an endpoint 12, in
a wireless access point 11 or firewall 10, as part of application protection 150 provided by the
cloud, and so on.
[0044] In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide for reputation
filtering, which may target or identify sources of known malware. For instance, reputation
filtering may include lists of URIs of known sources of malware or known suspicious IP
addresses, code authors, code signers, or domains, that when detected may invoke an action by
16
the threat management facility 100. Based on reputation, potential threat sources may be
blocked, quarantined, restricted, monitored, or some combination of these, before an exchange of
data can be made. Aspects of reputation filtering may be provided, for example, in the security
agent of an endpoint 12, in a wireless access point 11 or firewall 10, as part of application
protection 150 provided by the cloud, and so on. In embodiments, some reputation information
may be stored on a compute instance 10-26, and other reputation data available through cloud
lookups to an application protection lookup database, such as may be provided by application
protection 150.
[0045] In embodiments, information may be sent from the enterprise facility 102 to a third party,
such as a security vendor, or the like, which may lead to improved performance of the threat
management facility 100. In general, feedback may be useful for any aspect of threat detection.
For example, the types, times, and number of virus interactions that an enterprise facility 102
experiences may provide useful information for the preventions of future virus threats. Feedback
may also be associated with behaviors of individuals within the enterprise, such as being
associated with most common violations of policy, network access, unauthorized application
loading, unauthorized external device use, and the like. In embodiments, feedback may enable
the evaluation or profiling of client actions that are violations of policy that may provide a
predictive model for the improvement of enterprise policies.
[0046] An update management facility 120 may provide control over when updates are
performed. The updates may be automatically transmitted, manually transmitted, or some
combination of these. Updates may include software, definitions, reputations or other code or
data that may be useful to the various facilities. For example, the update facility 120 may manage
receiving updates from a provider, distribution of updates to enterprise facility 102 networks and
17
compute instances, or the like. In embodiments, updates may be provided to the enterprise
facility’s 102 network, where one or more compute instances on the enterprise facility’s 102
network may distribute updates to other compute instances.
[0047] The threat management facility 100 may include a policy management facility 112 that
manages rules or policies for the enterprise facility 102. Exemplary rules include access
permissions associated with networks, applications, compute instances, users, content, data, and
the like. The policy management facility 112 may use a database, a text file, other data store, or a
combination to store policies. In an embodiment, a policy database may include a block list, a
black list, an allowed list, a white list, and more. As a few non-limiting examples, policies may
include a list of enterprise facility 102 external network locations/applications that may or may
not be accessed by compute instances, a list of types/classifications of network locations or
applications that may or may not be accessed by compute instances, and contextual rules to
evaluate whether the lists apply. For example, there may be a rule that does not permit access to
sporting websites. When a website is requested by the client facility, a security management
facility 122 may access the rules within a policy facility to determine if the requested access is
related to a sporting website.
[0048] The policy management facility 112 may include access rules and policies that are
distributed to maintain control of access by the compute instances 10-26 to network resources.
Exemplary policies may be defined for an enterprise facility, application type, subset of
application capabilities, organization hierarchy, compute instance type, user type, network
location, time of day, connection type, or any other suitable definition. Policies may be
maintained through the threat management facility 100, in association with a third party, or the
like. For example, a policy may restrict instant messaging (IM) activity by limiting such activity
18
to support personnel when communicating with customers. More generally, this may allow
communication for departments as necessary or helpful for department functions, but may
otherwise preserve network bandwidth for other activities by restricting the use of IM to
personnel that need access for a specific purpose. In an embodiment, the policy management
facility 112 may be a stand-alone application, may be part of the network server facility 142,
may be part of the enterprise facility 102 network, may be part of the client facility, or any
suitable combination of these.
[0049] The policy management facility 112 may include dynamic policies that use contextual or
other information to make security decisions. As described herein, the dynamic policies facility
170 may generate policies dynamically based on observations and inferences made by the
analytics facility. The dynamic policies generated by the dynamic policy facility 170 may be
provided by the policy management facility 112 to the security management facility 122 for
enforcement.
[0050] In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may provide configuration
management as an aspect of the policy management facility 112, the security management
facility 122, or some combination. Configuration management may define acceptable or required
configurations for the compute instances 10-26, applications, operating systems, hardware, or
other assets, and manage changes to these configurations. Assessment of a configuration may be
made against standard configuration policies, detection of configuration changes, remediation of
improper configurations, application of new configurations, and so on. An enterprise facility may
have a set of standard configuration rules and policies for particular compute instances which
may represent a desired state of the compute instance. For example, on a given compute instance
12, 14, 18, a version of a client firewall may be required to be running and installed. If the
19
required version is installed but in a disabled state, the policy violation may prevent access to
data or network resources. A remediation may be to enable the firewall. In another example, a
configuration policy may disallow the use of USB disks, and policy management 112 may
require a configuration that turns off USB drive access via a registry key of a compute instance.
Aspects of configuration management may be provided, for example, in the security agent of an
endpoint 12, in a wireless access point 11 or firewall 10, as part of application protection 150
provided by the cloud, or any combination of these.
[0051] In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may also provide for the isolation or
removal of certain applications that are not desired or may interfere with the operation of a
compute instance 10-26 or the threat management facility 100, even if such application is not
malware per se. The operation of such products may be considered a configuration violation. The
removal of such products may be initiated automatically whenever such products are detected, or
access to data and network resources may be restricted when they are installed and running. In
the case where such applications are services which are provided indirectly through a third-party
product, the applicable application or processes may be suspended until action is taken to remove
or disable the third-party product.
[0052] The policy management facility 112 may also require update management (e.g., as
provided by the update facility 120). Update management for the security facility 122 and policy
management facility 112 may be provided directly by the threat management facility 100, or, for
example, by a hosted system. In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may also
provide for patch management, where a patch may be an update to an operating system, an
application, a system tool, or the like, where one of the reasons for the patch is to reduce
vulnerability to threats.
20
[0053] In embodiments, the security facility 122 and policy management facility 112 may push
information to the enterprise facility 102 network and/or the compute instances 10-26, the
enterprise facility 102 network and/or compute instances 10-26 may pull information from the
security facility 122 and policy management facility 112, or there may be a combination of
pushing and pulling of information. For example, the enterprise facility 102 network and/or
compute instances 10-26 may pull update information from the security facility 122 and policy
management facility 112 via the update facility 120, an update request may be based on a time
period, by a certain time, by a date, on demand, or the like. In another example, the security
facility 122 and policy management facility 112 may push the information to the enterprise
facility’s 102 network and/or compute instances 10-26 by providing notification that there are
updates available for download and/or transmitting the information. In an embodiment, the
policy management facility 112 and the security facility 122 may work in concert with the update
management facility 120 to provide information to the enterprise facility’s 102 network and/or
compute instances 10-26. In various embodiments, policy updates, security updates and other
updates may be provided by the same or different modules, which may be the same or separate
from a security agent running on one of the compute instances 10-26.
[0054] As threats are identified and characterized, the definition facility 114 of the threat
management facility 100 may manage definitions used to detect and remediate threats. For
example, identity definitions may be used for scanning files, applications, data streams, etc. for
the determination of malicious code. Identity definitions may include instructions and data that
can be parsed and acted upon for recognizing features of known or potentially malicious code.
Definitions also may include, for example, code or data to be used in a classifier, such as a neural
network or other classifier that may be trained using machine learning. Updated code or data
21
may be used by the classifier to classify threats. In embodiments, the threat management facility
100 and the compute instances 10-26 may be provided with new definitions periodically to
include most recent threats. Updating of definitions may be managed by the update facility 120,
and may be performed upon request from one of the compute instances 10-26, upon a push, or
some combination. Updates may be performed upon a time period, on demand from a device
1026, upon determination of an important new definition or a number of definitions, and so on.
[0055] A threat research facility (not shown) may provide a continuously ongoing effort to
maintain the threat protection capabilities of the threat management facility 100 in light of
continuous generation of new or evolved forms of malware. Threat research may be provided by
researchers and analysts working on known threats, in the form of policies, definitions, remedial
actions, and so on.
[0056] The security management facility 122 may scan an outgoing file and verify that the
outgoing file is permitted to be transmitted according to policies. By checking outgoing files, the
security management facility 122 may be able discover threats that were not detected on one of
the compute instances 10-26, or policy violation, such transmittal of information that should not
be communicated unencrypted.
[0057] The threat management facility 100 may control access to the enterprise facility 102
networks. A network access facility 124 may restrict access to certain applications, networks,
files, printers, servers, databases, and so on. In addition, the network access facility 124 may
restrict user access under certain conditions, such as the user’s location, usage history, need to
know, job position, connection type, time of day, method of authentication, client-system
configuration, or the like. Network access policies may be provided by the policy management
facility 112, and may be developed by the enterprise facility 102, or pre-packaged by a supplier.
22
Network access facility 124 may determine if a given compute instance 10-22 should be granted
access to a requested network location, e.g., inside or outside of the enterprise facility 102.
Network access facility 124 may determine if a compute instance 22, 26 such as a device outside
the enterprise facility 102 may access the enterprise facility 102. For example, in some cases, the
policies may require that when certain policy violations are detected, certain network access is
denied. The network access facility 124 may communicate remedial actions that are necessary or
helpful to bring a device back into compliance with policy as described below with respect to the
remedial action facility 128. Aspects of the network access facility 124 may be provided, for
example, in the security agent of the endpoint 12, in a wireless access point 11, in a firewall 10,
as part of application protection 150 provided by the cloud, and so on.
[0058] In an embodiment, the network access facility 124 may have access to policies that
include one or more of a block list, a black list, an allowed list, a white list, an unacceptable
network site database, an acceptable network site database, a network site reputation database, or
the like of network access locations that may or may not be accessed by the client facility.
Additionally, the network access facility 124 may use rule evaluation to parse network access
requests and apply policies. The network access rule facility 124 may have a generic set of
policies for all compute instances, such as denying access to certain types of websites,
controlling instant messenger accesses, or the like. Rule evaluation may include regular
expression rule evaluation, or other rule evaluation method(s) for interpreting the network access
request and comparing the interpretation to established rules for network access. Classifiers may
be used, such as neural network classifiers or other classifiers that may be trained by machine
learning.
23
[0059] The threat management facility 100 may include an asset classification facility 160. The
asset classification facility will discover the assets present in the enterprise facility 102. A
compute instance such as any of the compute instances 10-26 described herein may be
characterized as a stack of assets. The one level asset is an item of physical hardware. The
compute instance may be, or may be implemented on physical hardware, and may have or may
not have a hypervisor, or may be an asset managed by a hypervisor. The compute instance may
have an operating system (e.g., Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS). The compute instance
may have one or more layers of containers. The compute instance may have one or more
applications, which may be native applications, e.g., for a physical asset or virtual machine, or
running in containers within a computing environment on a physical asset or virtual machine,
and those applications may link libraries or other code or the like, e.g., for a user interface,
cryptography, communications, device drivers, mathematical or analytical functions and so forth.
The stack may also interact with data. The stack may also or instead interact with users, and so
users may be considered assets.
[0060] The threat management facility may include entity models 162. The entity models may be
used, for example, to determine the events that are generated by assets. For example, some
operating systems may provide useful information for detecting or identifying events. For
examples, operating systems may provide process and usage information that accessed through
an API. As another example, it may be possible to instrument certain containers to monitor the
activity of applications running on them. As another example, entity models for users may define
roles, groups, permitted activities and other attributes.
[0061] The event collection facility 164 may be used to collect events from any of a wide variety
of sensors that may provide relevant events from an asset, such as sensors on any of the compute
24
instances 10-26, the application protection facility 150, a cloud computing instance 109 and so
on. The events that may be collected may be determined by the entity models. There may be a
variety of events collected. Events may include, for example, events generated by the enterprise
facility 102 or the compute instances 10-26, such as by monitoring streaming data through a
gateway such as firewall 10 and wireless access point 11, monitoring activity of compute
instances, monitoring stored files/data on the compute instances 10-26 such as desktop
computers, laptop computers, other mobile computing devices, and cloud computing instances
19, 109. Events may range in granularity. An exemplary event may be communication of a
specific packet over the network. Another exemplary event may be identification of an
application that is communicating over a network.
[0062] The event logging facility 166 may be used to store events collected by the event
collection facility 164. The event logging facility 166 may store collected events so that they can
be accessed and analyzed by the analytics facility 168. Some events may be collected locally,
and some events may be communicated to an event store in a central location or cloud facility.
Events may be logged in any suitable format.
[0063] Events collected by the event logging facility 166 may be used by the analytics facility
168 to make inferences and observations about the events. These observations and inferences
may be used as part of policies enforced by the security management facility. Observations or
inferences about events may also be logged by the event logging facility 166. When a threat or
other policy violation is detected by the security management facility 122, the remedial action
facility 128 may be used to remediate the threat. Remedial action may take a variety of forms,
non-limiting examples including collecting additional data about the threat, terminating or
modifying an ongoing process or interaction, sending a warning to a user or administrator,
25
downloading a data file with commands, definitions, instructions, or the like to remediate the
threat, requesting additional information from the requesting device, such as the application that
initiated the activity of interest, executing a program or application to remediate against a threat
or violation, increasing telemetry or recording interactions for subsequent evaluation, (continuing
to) block requests to a particular network location or locations, scanning a requesting application
or device, quarantine of a requesting application or the device, isolation of the requesting
application or the device, deployment of a sandbox, blocking access to resources, e.g., a USB
port, or other remedial actions. More generally, the remedial action facility 122 may take any
steps or deploy any measures suitable for addressing a detection of a threat, potential threat,
policy violation or other event, code or activity that might compromise security of a computing
instance 10-26 or the enterprise facility 102.
[0064] Fig. 2 depicts a block diagram of a threat management system 201 such as any of the
threat management systems described herein, and including a cloud enterprise facility 280. The
cloud enterprise facility 280 may include servers 284, 286, and a firewall 282. The servers 284,
286 on the cloud enterprise facility 280 may run one or more enterprise applications and make
them available to the enterprise facilities 102 compute instances 10-26. It should be understood
that there may be any number of servers 284, 286 and firewalls 282, as well as other compute
instances in a given cloud enterprise facility 280. It also should be understood that a given
enterprise facility may use both SaaS applications 156 and cloud enterprise facilities 280, or, for
example, a SaaS application 156 may be deployed on a cloud enterprise facility 280. As such, the
configurations in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 are shown by way of examples and not exclusive alternatives.
26
[0065] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an environment 300 including a first trusted access point
302, a second trusted access point 304, a suspect/rogue device 306, a trusted device 308, a
quarantine network 310, a network 312, and a threat management system 314.
[0066] In operation, the first trusted access point 302 advertises one or more dummy network
identifiers 316 (e.g., service set identifier (SSID), basic service set identifier (BSSID), etc.). A
suspect device 306 requests connection 318 to one of the dummy network identifiers 316
advertised by the first trusted access point 302. The first trusted access point 302 grants network
access to the suspect device 306. In some implementations, traffic for the suspect device 306
may be isolated from other traffic, e.g., by allocating a separate virtual LAN (VLAN) for such
traffic.
[0067] The first trusted access point 302 and/or the threat management system 314 can monitor
network traffic from the suspect device 306 to determine if the network traffic meets an
abnormality threshold. If the network traffic from the suspect device 306 meets the abnormality
threshold, then the first trusted access point 302 and/or the threat management system 314
determine that the suspect device 306 is a rogue device.
[0068] In response to device 306 being detected as a rogue device, the first trusted access point
302 can perform one or more actions to protect the network 312 from the rogue device 306. The
steps can include quarantining the rogue device 306 to a quarantine network 310 that is distinct
from a network 312 that carries traffic for trusted devices (e.g., trusted device 308) for further
observation and/or surveillance. By quarantining the rogue device 306 to a quarantine network,
the rogue device 306 can be observed without placing the actual network 312 or its resources in
jeopardy.
27
[0069] In addition, or as an alternative, the first trusted access point 302 can block the
connection of the rogue device 306. The blocking can be full (e.g., no access to any network
resources) or partial (e.g., access to some network resources, but not all network resources). The
first trusted access point 302 can also communicate the identity of the rogue device to the second
trusted access point 304, the threat management system 314, or other network devices (e.g.,
firewalls, other endpoints, etc.). For example, the identity of the rogue device 306 may include a
medium access control (MAC) address of the rogue device 306.
[0070] Trusted endpoint devices, such as trusted device 308, may access network 312 and
associated resources using an actual network identifier 320. Use of an actual network identifier
320 as opposed to a dummy network identifier 316 can be, in part, an indication to the trusted
access points (302, 304) and the threat management system 314 that the trusted device 308 is not
a suspect or rogue device. Also, a trusted device can include a network device (e.g., endpoint or
access point) that has been registered and/or authenticated by the threat management system 314.
Prior to the trusted access point 302 advertising the dummy network identifiers 316, the trusted
access point 302 may communicate to trusted devices (e.g., 304 and 308), for example, via a
synchronized security system message, a list of one or more dummy network identifiers that will
be advertised so that trusted devices do not attempt to connect to the dummy network identifiers.
The synchronized security message can include a status or “heartbeat” message from a threat
management system to a network device registered with the threat management system or vice
versa.
[0071] When a previously trusted device (e.g., 308) attempts to access one of the dummy
network identifiers, the trusted access point 302 or threat management system 314 can determine
28
that this is an indication that the previously trusted device may have been compromised and may
need to be treated as a suspect or rogue device according to the method described herein.
[0072] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example method 400 (e.g., a computer-implemented
method) for rogue device detection, in accordance with some implementations.
[0073] In some implementations, method 400 can be implemented, for example, on a network
device such as an access point (e.g., 402 or 404), on a threat management system (e.g., 100), an
enterprise facility (e.g., 102), a cloud enterprise facility 280, or other device or a combination of
devices. In other implementations, some or all of the method 400 can be implemented on one or
more devices of 100 or 102 as shown in Fig. 1 or 280 as shown in Fig. 2, one or more server
devices, and/or on both server device(s) and client device(s). In described examples, the
implementing system includes one or more digital hardware processors or processing circuitry
("processors"), and one or more storage devices. In some implementations, different components
of one or more devices or facilities can perform different blocks or other parts of the method 400.
[0074] In some implementations, the method 400, or portions of the method, can be initiated
automatically by a device. For example, the method (or portions thereof) can be periodically
performed or performed based on the occurrence of one or more particular events or conditions.
For example, such events or conditions can include a device (e.g., an unknown device)
attempting to connect to a dummy network identifier, a predetermined time period having
expired since the last performance of method 400, and/or one or more other events or conditions
occurring which can be specified in settings of a device implementing method 400. In some
implementations, such conditions can be previously specified by a user in stored custom
preferences of the user (accessible by a device or method with user consent). In some examples,
a device (server or client) can perform the method 400 with access to one or more applications
29
that receive short answer responses. In another example, a network device can perform the
method 400. In addition, or alternatively, a network device can send data to a server (e.g., a
threat management facility) over a network, and the server can perform method 400 in whole or
in part.
[0075] Processing begins at 402, where one or more dummy network identifiers associated with
a wireless network are generated. The identifiers can be automatically generated, manually
generated or generated automatically based on input received from a user. Generating the one or
more dummy network identifiers can include generating each dummy network identifier based
on a keyword (e.g., a name associated with the enterprise or organization that operates or owns
the wireless network). The dummy network identifiers can combine the keyword and one or
more other words that are commonly seen in network identifiers. For example, if the keyword is
“Organization”, then the dummy network identifiers can include “Organization Free”,
“Organization Visitor”, “Organization Open”, etc. Alternatively, the dummy network identifiers
can include automatically generated names that do not relate to a keyword. Processing continues
to 404.
[0076] At 404, the one or more dummy network identifiers are advertised via the wireless
network. Advertising can include transmitting the one or more dummy network identifiers over a
wireless network. In some implementations, the advertising can include sending a command to a
known access point within the wireless network to advertise the one or more dummy network
identifiers. The advertised dummy network identifiers are detectable by clients, e.g., detectable
as Wi-Fi access points. Processing continues to 406.
[0077] At 406, a device attempting to connect to one or more of the dummy network identifiers
is identified. Processing continues to 407.
30
[0078] At 407, it is determined if a number of attempts to connection to one or more dummy
network identifiers exceeds a threshold number. If the threshold number is not exceeded,
processing continues to 408. If the threshold number is exceeded, the device is identified as a
suspect device. In some implementations, the identifying can be performed at a network device
within the wireless network that received a list of the one or more dummy network identifiers
and that determines, at the network device, that the device is a suspect device based on one or
more attempts by the device to connect to the one or more dummy network identifiers.
[0079] In some implementations, the identifying can be performed at a cloud-based network
security system and the device is a device previously determined to be authentic by the cloudbased network security system, and wherein the cloud-based network security system determined
that the device has been compromised based on attempts by the device to access the one or more
dummy network identifiers. In some implementations, the identifying can include sending a
command to the known access point to stop advertising the one or more dummy network
identifiers and to listen for any endpoint devices attempting to access a network identified by the
one or more dummy network identifiers. If the number of attempts exceeds the threshold,
processing continues to 412.
[0080] At 408, network traffic of the suspect device on the wireless network is monitored. The
monitoring can include monitoring one or more parameters or features of the network traffic
from the suspect device. The parameters or features being monitored can include volumes of
data, URLs visited, IP session partners, file shares accessed, processes started, usage times, or
locations, etc. Processing continues to 410. The network traffic of the suspect device may be
monitored or recorded, to determine the specific activities undertaken by the suspect device. For
example, if the suspect device attempts to connect to specific devices, uses specific protocols,
31
tests for specific vulnerabilities, attempts to exploit specific vulnerabilities, and so on, similar
traffic may be used to later recognize the suspect device or an operator or software on the suspect
device.
[0081] At 410, determining if the monitored network traffic of the device meets an abnormality
threshold processing continues to 412. If the monitored network traffic of the device does not
meet the abnormality threshold, then processing continues to 404. Determining whether the
monitored network traffic of the device meets the abnormality threshold can include transmitting,
to a cloud-based network security system remote from a wireless endpoint that performs the
advertising, one or more parameters of the monitored network traffic, and receiving, from the
cloud-based network security system, an indication that the monitored network traffic meets the
abnormality threshold.
[0082] Determining whether the monitored network traffic of the device meets the abnormality
threshold may include determining whether the device is a recognized device. Determining
whether the monitored network traffic of the device meets the abnormality threshold may include
determining whether the device is a managed device. A managed device may have a security
agent running on the device that is in communication with a security gateway or a cloud-based
network security system. A managed device may be known to a security gateway or a cloudbased network security system as a permitted device. Determining whether the monitored
network traffic of the device meets the abnormality threshold may include determining the
security status of the device, for example, based on communications from the device, e.g., over a
security heartbeat communications channel to a security gateway or a cloud-based network
security system. Determining whether the monitored network traffic of the device meets the
32
abnormality threshold may include determining whether network communication is consistent
with previous communication of the device.
[0083] At 412, when the monitored network traffic of the device meets an abnormality threshold
or the number of attempts to connect to one or more dummy network identifiers exceeds a
threshold, the suspect device is detected to be a rogue device. Processing continues to 414.
[0084] At 414, one or more actions are performed to protect the wireless network from the rogue
device. In some implementations, the actions can include one or more of blocking access to the
wireless network by the rogue device or quarantining the rogue device to limit access to the
wireless network. In some implementations, the actions can include transmitting an identity of
the rogue device to one or more other devices coupled to the wireless network. Processing
continues to 416.
[0085] At 416, a physical location of the rogue device may be identified or estimated using
wireless location finding techniques, e.g., signal triangulation, received signal strength indicator
(RSSI), etc. The location can be provided to other security systems or to a user interface to
inform personnel about a location of the rogue device. It will be appreciated that one or more of
blocks 402-416 may be repeated, performed in a different order or performed periodically.
[0086] Determining the identity of the device may include determining whether the device is a
recognized device, for example, based on a network (e.g., MAC) address. Determining the
identity of the device may include determining whether the device is a managed device. A
managed device may have a security agent running on the device that is in communication with a
security gateway or a cloud-based network security system. A managed device may be known to
a security gateway or a cloud-based network security system. Determining the identity of the
device may also include determining the security status of the device, for example, based on
33
communications from the device, e.g., over a security heartbeat communications channel to a
security gateway or a cloud-based network security system. A managed device that attempts to
access a dummy access point may be considered a potentially compromised device or a
compromised device.
[0087] It should be noted that there may be a lot of information collected about compute
instances and users, and this may have privacy implications and scalability implications. Privacy
may be addressed in some cases by user notifications and permissions, anonymization,
tokenization, and encryption. It may also be useful to optimize the network data being collected
or analyzed by one or more of coalescing the data, compressing the data, or serializing the data.
Security features may be used to avoid abuse of APIs (e.g., authentication, replay protection,
DoS protection). Performance optimizations, such as rate limiting, prioritization, and queue
management may be used to improve scalability.
[0088] While there is any attempt to access such dummy entities, the system can send back
downloaded files to the suspected attacker with script or code embedded into the download files.
Such script or code can continue to contact to the remote server and can provide information
about the attacker’s system to the threat management system. Such information can be used to
track suspected attackers. Likewise, characteristics of the device or the network communications
of a device that attempts to access dummy entities may be used to recognize and control the
device when it attempts to connect or connects to other networks. For example, responses by the
device to connection requests to the device on one or more ports may be used to recognize the
device. For example, an operating system or software application on the device may periodically
attempt to communicate to one or more network devices, and the pattern or combination of the
network attempts may be used to recognize the device.
34
[0089] FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example computing device 500 in accordance with at least one
implementation. The computing device 500 includes one or more processors 502, nontransitory
computer readable medium or memory 504, I/O interface devices 506 (e.g., wireless
communications, etc.), and a network interface 508, all of which may be operatively coupled to
each other by a bus. The computer readable medium 504 may have stored thereon an operating
system 508, a rogue device detection application 510 for rogue device detection, and a database
512 (e.g., for storing network identifiers, dummy network identifiers, network device
information, etc.).
[0090] In operation, the processor 502 may execute the application 510 stored in the computer
readable medium 504. The application 510 may include software instructions that, when
executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations for location-based endpoint
security in accordance with the present disclosure (e.g., performing one or more of the operations
described with reference to FIG. 4).
[0091] The application program 510 may operate in conjunction with the database 512 and the
operating system 508. The device 500 may communicate with other devices (e.g., a wireless
access point or a threat management system) via the I/O interfaces 506.
[0092] It will be appreciated that the modules, processes, systems, and sections described above
may be implemented in hardware, hardware programmed by software, software instructions
stored on a nontransitory computer readable medium or a combination of the above. A system as
described above, for example, may include a processor configured to execute a sequence of
programmed instructions stored on a nontransitory computer readable medium. For example, the
processor may include, but not be limited to, a personal computer or workstation or other such
computing system that includes a processor, microprocessor, microcontroller device, or is
35
comprised of control logic including integrated circuits such as, for example, an Application
Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The instructions may be compiled from source code
instructions provided in accordance with a programming language such as Java, C, C++, C#.net,
assembly or the like. The instructions may also comprise code and data objects provided in
accordance with, for example, the Visual Basic™ language, or another structured or objectoriented programming language. The sequence of programmed instructions, or programmable
logic device configuration software, and data associated therewith may be stored in a
nontransitory computer-readable medium such as a computer memory or storage device which
may be any suitable memory apparatus, such as, but not limited to ROM, PROM, EEPROM,
RAM, flash memory, disk drive and the like.
[0093] Furthermore, the modules, processes systems, and sections may be implemented as a
single processor or as a distributed processor. Further, it should be appreciated that the steps
mentioned above may be performed on a single or distributed processor (single and/or multicore, or cloud computing system). Also, the processes, system components, modules, and submodules described in the various figures of and for embodiments above may be distributed
across multiple computers or systems or may be co-located in a single processor or system.
Example structural embodiment alternatives suitable for implementing the modules, sections,
systems, means, or processes described herein are provided below.
[0094] The modules, processors or systems described above may be implemented as a
programmed general purpose computer, an electronic device programmed with microcode, a
hard-wired analog logic circuit, software stored on a computer-readable medium or signal, an
optical computing device, a networked system of electronic and/or optical devices, a special
36
purpose computing device, an integrated circuit device, a semiconductor chip, and/or a software
module or object stored on a computer-readable medium or signal, for example.
[0095] Embodiments of the method and system (or their sub-components or modules), may be
implemented on a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a programmed
microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit element, an ASIC or other
integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a
discrete element circuit, a programmed logic circuit such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, or the
like. In general, any processor capable of implementing the functions or steps described herein
may be used to implement embodiments of the method, system, or a computer program product
(software program stored on a nontransitory computer readable medium).
[0096] Furthermore, embodiments of the disclosed method, system, and computer program
product (or software instructions stored on a nontransitory computer readable medium) may be
readily implemented, fully or partially, in software using, for example, object or object-oriented
software development environments that provide portable source code that may be used on a
variety of computer platforms. Alternatively, embodiments of the disclosed method, system, and
computer program product may be implemented partially or fully in hardware using, for
example, standard logic circuits or a VLSI design. Other hardware or software may be used to
implement embodiments depending on the speed and/or efficiency requirements of the systems,
the particular function, and/or particular software or hardware system, microprocessor, or
microcomputer being utilized. Embodiments of the method, system, and computer program
product may be implemented in hardware and/or software using any known or later developed
systems or structures, devices and/or software by those of ordinary skill in the applicable art
37
from the function description provided herein and with a general basic knowledge of the
software engineering and computer networking arts.
[0097] Moreover, embodiments of the disclosed method, system, and computer readable media
(or computer program product) may be implemented in software executed on a programmed
general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a network server or
switch, or the like.
[0098] It is, therefore, apparent that there is provided, in accordance with the various
embodiments disclosed herein, methods, systems and computer readable media for detecting
rogue devices.
[0099] While the disclosed subject matter has been described in conjunction with a number of
embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations would be, or are,
apparent to those of ordinary skill in the applicable arts. Accordingly, Applicants intend to
embrace all such alternatives, modifications, equivalents and variations that are within the spirit
and scope of the disclosed subject matter. It should also be understood that references to items in
the singular should be understood to include items in the plural, and vice versa, unless explicitly
stated otherwise or clear from the context. Grammatical conjunctions are intended to express any
and all disjunctive and conjunctive combinations of conjoined clauses, sentences, words, and the
like, unless otherwise stated or clear from the context. Thus, the term “or” should generally be
understood to mean “and/or” and so forth.

We Claim:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
automatically generating one or more dummy network identifiers associated with a
wireless network;
advertising the one or more dummy network identifiers;
identifying a device as a suspect device based on receiving a connection attempt to at
least one of the one or more dummy network identifiers by the device;
allocating a virtual local area network within the wireless network to process traffic
associated with the at least one of the one or more dummy network identifiers;
monitoring network traffic of the suspect device on the virtual local area network;
if the monitored network traffic meets an abnormality threshold, determining that the
suspect device is a rogue device; and
performing an action to protect the wireless network from the rogue device.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, generating the one or more dummy network
identifiers includes generating a dummy network identifier based on a keyword.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein performing the action includes one or
more of blocking access to the wireless network by the rogue device or quarantining the rogue
device to limit access to the wireless network.
39
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein performing the action includes
transmitting an identifier of the rogue device to one or more other devices coupled to the wireless
network.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:
transmitting, to a cloud-based network security system remote from a wireless endpoint
that performs the advertising, one or more parameters of the monitored network traffic; and
receiving, from the cloud-based network security system, an indication that the monitored
network traffic meets the abnormality threshold.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying is performed at a
network device within the wireless network that received a list of the one or more dummy
network identifiers and that determines that the device is a suspect device based on one or more
attempts by the device to connect to the one or more dummy network identifiers.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying is performed at a
cloud-based network security system and the device is a device previously determined to be
authentic by the cloud-based network security system, wherein the cloud-based network security
system determines that the device has been compromised based on a connection attempt by the
device to access the one or more dummy network identifiers, wherein the connection attempt
includes a plurality of attempts, and wherein the device is determined as compromised when a
count of the plurality of attempts exceeds a threshold.
40
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein advertising the one or more dummy
network identifiers via the wireless network includes sending a command to a known access
point within the wireless network to advertise the one or more dummy network identifiers.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising sending a command to the
known access point to stop advertising the one or more dummy network identifiers and to listen
for any endpoint devices attempting to access a network identified by the one or more dummy
network identifiers.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a physical
location of the rogue device using a wireless location finding technique.
11. A threat management system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
a nontransitory computer readable medium coupled to the one or more processors, the
nontransitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed
by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations
including:
automatically generating one or more dummy network identifiers associated with
a wireless network;
advertising the one or more dummy network identifiers;
identifying a device as a suspect device based on receiving a connection attempt
to at least one of the one or more dummy network identifiers by the device;
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monitoring network traffic of the suspect device on the network;
if the monitored network traffic meets an abnormality threshold, determining that
the suspect device is a rogue device; and
performing an action to protect the wireless network from the rogue device.
12. The threat management system of claim 11, generating the one or more dummy network
identifiers includes generating each dummy network identifier based on a keyword.
13. The threat management system of claim 11, wherein the action includes one or more of
blocking access to the wireless network by the rogue device or quarantining the rogue device to
limit access to the wireless network.
14. The threat management system of claim 11, wherein the action includes transmitting an
identity of the rogue device to one or more other devices coupled to the wireless network.
15. The threat management system of claim 11, wherein the device is one of an endpoint device
or an access point.
16. The threat management system of claim 11, wherein the operations further include allocating
a virtual local area network within the wireless network to process traffic associated with the at
least one of the one or more dummy network identifiers.
17. The threat management system of claim 11, wherein the determining comprises:
transmitting, to a cloud-based network security system remote from a wireless endpoint
that performs the advertising, one or more parameters of the monitored network traffic; and
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receiving, from the cloud-based network security system, an indication that the monitored
network traffic meets the abnormality threshold.
18. A nontransitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when
executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations
including:
automatically generating one or more dummy network identifiers associated with a
wireless network;
advertising the one or more dummy network identifiers via the wireless network;
identifying a device as a suspect device based on receiving a connection attempt to one of
the one or more dummy network identifiers by the device;
monitoring network traffic of the suspect device on the wireless network;
if the monitored network traffic meets an abnormality threshold, determining that the
suspect device is a rogue device; and
performing an action to protect the wireless network from the rogue device.
19. The nontransitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for
determining further comprise instructions for:
transmitting, to a cloud-based network security system remote from a wireless endpoint
that performs the advertising, one or more parameters of the monitored network traffic; and
receiving, from the cloud-based network security system, an indication that the monitored
network traffic meets the abnormality threshold.
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20. The nontransitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions to
perform the action further include instructions to perform one or more of the following:
blocking access to the wireless network by the rogue device;
quarantining the rogue device to limit access to the wireless network; or
transmitting an identity of the rogue device to one or more other devices coupled to the
wireless network.