Vmware, Inc.

Nafisa Mandliwala

Sirisha Myneni

Subrahmanyam Manuguri

Venkatakrishnan Rajagopalan

Robin Manhas

Anirban Sengupta

Kausum Kumar

Arijit Chanda

Suresh Babu Muppala

Amit Ratnapal Sangodkar

Makarand Gawade

Baibhav Singh

Jivan Madtha

Srinivas Ramaswamy

Some embodiments of the invention provide, for an intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS) engine operating on a host computer deployed in a software-defined datacenter (SDDC), a method for detecting and analyzing malicious packet flows. Upon detecting a new packet flow, the method captures packets belonging to the new packet flow in a file. When the new packet flow ends, the method determines that a particular packet belonging to the new packet flow has triggered an alert indicating the particular packet includes a potentially malicious payload. The method annotates the file for the new packet flow with a set of contextual data that (1) specifies the new packet flow as a potentially malicious packet flow and (2) identifies the particular packet and at least one signature associated with the alert triggered by the particular packet. The method sends the annotated file to a network management server to analyze the set of contextual data to extract further information regarding the potentially malicious payload.

System and method for capturing malicious flows and associated context for threat analysis

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method of implementing an intent-based intrusion detection and prevention system in a datacenter, the datacenter including at least one host computer executing multiple machines. The method receives a filtered set of intrusion detection signatures to be enforced on the at least one host computer. The method uses a set of contextual attributes associated with a particular data message to generate an intrusion detection signature for the particular data message, the generated intrusion detection signature including a bit pattern, each bit associated with a contextual attribute in the set. The method compares the generated intrusion detection signature with the received set of intrusion detection signatures to identify a matching intrusion detection signature in the received filtered set.

Method and system for enforcing intrusion detection signatures curated for workloads based on contextual attributes in an SDDC

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method of implementing an intent-based intrusion detection and prevention system in a datacenter that includes at least one host computer executing multiple machines. The method receives multiple contextual attributes associated with a set of data messages processed by the multiple machines executing on the at least one host computer, the multiple contextual attributes including contextual attributes that are not L2-L4 attributes and that define a compute environment in which one or more workloads performed by the multiple machines executing on the at least one host computer operate. The method uses the received multiple contextual attributes to perform a filtering operation to identify, from multiple intrusion detection signatures, a set of intrusion detection signatures applicable to the one or more workloads. The method provides the identified set of intrusion detection signatures to an intrusion detection system operating on the particular host computer for enforcement.

Method and system for automatically curating intrusion detection signatures for workloads based on contextual attributes in an SDDC

Example methods and systems are provided for network diagnosis. One example method may comprise: detecting an egress packet and determining whether each of multiple network issues is detected for the egress packet or a datapath between a first virtualized computing instance and a second virtualized computing instance. The method may also comprise: generating network diagnosis code information specifying whether each of the multiple network issues is detected or not detected; generating an encapsulated packet by encapsulating the egress packet with an outer header that specifies the network diagnosis code information; and sending the encapsulated packet towards the second virtualized computing instance to cause a second computer system to perform one or more remediation actions based on the network diagnosis code information.

Network diagnosis in software-defined networking (SDN) environments

File events are correlated with intrusion detection alerts for corrective action. A monitoring component receives file events from a thin agent. An analysis component analyzes the file events and metadata obtained from the intrusion detection alerts, such as attack type or file name, to correlate a set of file events to at least one detected action (intrusion) described in the alert. A recommendation component identifies one or more options, including one or more corrective actions, which are applicable for remediating the alert. The set of options includes a recommended action from two or more possible corrective actions. The set of options are output or displayed to the user. The user selects which option/action to perform in response to the alert. In some examples, an automatic response is performed without user selection with respect to selected types of alerts, detected action(s), selected file(s) or other user-generated criteria.

Corrective action on malware intrusion detection using file introspection

The disclosure provides an approach for remediating false positives for a network security monitoring component. Embodiments include receiving an alert related to network security for a virtual computing instance (VCI). Embodiments include collecting, in response to receiving the alert, context information from the VCI. Embodiments include providing a notification to a management plane based on the alert and the context information. Embodiments include receiving, from the management plane, in response to the notification, an indication of whether the alert is a false positive. Embodiments include training a model based on the alert, the context information, and the indication to determine whether a given alert is a false positive.

Remediating false positives of intrusion detection systems with guest introspection

The disclosure provides an approach for rate limiting packets in a network. Embodiments include receiving, by a rate limiting engine running on a host machine, a network event related to a virtual computing instance running on the host machine, the network event comprising flow information about a network flow. Embodiments include receiving, by the rate limiting engine, context information corresponding to the network flow, wherein the context information comprises one or more of a user characteristic or an application characteristic. Embodiments include determining, by the rate limiting engine, a priority for the network flow by applying a rate limiting policy to the flow information and the context information. Embodiments include providing, by the rate limiting engine, the priority for the network flow to a multiplexer for use in rate limiting the network flow.

Context-aware rate limiting

Example methods are provided for a first host to perform context-aware network mapping a software-defined networking (SDN) environment. One example method may comprise: detecting multiple packet flows that include an egress packet flow originating from a first endpoint and destined for a second host, and an ingress packet flow originating from a second host or a third host and destined for the first endpoint or a second endpoint. The method may also comprise: in response to detecting the egress packet flow, obtaining first packet flow information and first context information; in response to detecting the ingress packet flow, obtaining second packet header information and second context information; and generating network map information that identifies the egress packet flow based on the first packet flow information and first context information, and the ingress packet flow based on the second packet flow information and second context information.

Context-aware network introspection in software-defined networking (SDN) environments

A system for a reservation for a multi-machine application can include a server virtualization engine configured to create a mixed reservation of information technology resources from a cluster of hosts including a virtual machine host and a container host. The system can include a cloud management engine configured to create a multi-machine blueprint from the mixed reservation including a virtual machine template, a container image, and a definition of networking. The cloud management engine can be configured to deploy the multi-machine blueprint to provide a multi-machine application.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Nafisa Mandliwala