Webroot Inc.

Webroot Software, Inc.

Matthew L Boney

Steve Thomas

Justin R Bertman

Bryan M Liston

Jeffery Herman

A system and method for researching an identity of a source of activity that is indicative of pestware is described. In one embodiment the method comprises monitoring, using a kernel-mode driver, API call activity on the computer; storing information related to the API call activity in a log; analyzing, heuristically, the API call activity to determine whether one or more weighted factors associated with the API call activity exceeds a threshold; identifying, based upon the API call activity, a suspected pestware object on the computer; identifying, in response to the identifying the suspected pestware object, a reference to an identity of an externally networked source of the suspected pestware object; and reporting the identity of the externally networked source to an externally networked pestware research entity.

Backwards researching activity indicative of pestware

A system and method for identifying an origin of suspected pestware activity on a computer is described. One embodiment includes establishing a time of interest relating to a suspicion of pestware on the computer; issuing a timestamp in response to the establishing the time of interest; identifying, in response to the issuing the timestamp, indicia of pestware; and accessing at least a portion of a recorded history of sources that the computer received files from so as to identify, based at least in part upon the identified indicia of pestware, a reference to an identity of a source that is suspected of originating pestware.

Backward researching time stamped events to find an origin of pestware

A system and method for researching an identity of a source of activity that is indicative of pestware is described. In one embodiment the method comprises monitoring the computer for activity that is indicative of pestware, identifying, based upon the activity, an object residing on the computer that is a suspected pestware object; and accessing at least a portion of a recorded history of sources that the computer received files from so as to identify a reference to an identity of a particular source that the suspected pestware object originated from.

A system and method for identifying an origin of suspected pestware activity on a computer is described. One embodiment includes establishing a time of interest relating to a suspicion of pestware on the computer, identifying, based upon the time of interest, indicia of pestware and accessing at least a portion of a recorded history of sources that the computer received files from so as to identify, based at least in part upon the identified indicia of pestware, a reference to an identity of a source that is suspected of originating pestware.

A system and method for managing malware is described. One embodiment is designed to receive an initial URL associated with a Web site; download content from that Web site; identify any obfuscation techniques used to hide malware or pointers to malware; interpret those obfuscation techniques; identify a new URL as a result of interpreting the obfuscation techniques; and add the new URL to a URL database.

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Longmont, CO, United States of America

Matthew L Boney