From: InfoSec News (isnc4i.org)
Date: Thu Nov 13 2003 - 07:51:22 CST

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http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/477.html

By Tony Fitzpatrick
Nov. 5, 2003

A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has
developed technology to stop malicious software - malware - such as
viruses and worms long before it even has a chance to reach computers
in the home and office.

John Lockwood, Ph.D., an assistant professor of computer science at
Washington University, and the graduate students that work in his
research laboratory have developed a hardware platform called the
Field-programmable Port Extender (FPX) that scans for malware
transmitted over a network and filters out unwanted data.

"The FPX uses several patented technologies in order to scan for the
signatures of malware quickly," said Lockwood. "Unlike existing
network intrusion systems, the FPX uses hardware, not software, to
scan data quickly. The FPX can scan each and every byte of every data
packet transmitted through a network at a rate of 2.4 billion bits per
second. In other words, the FPX could scan every word in the entire
works of Shakespeare in about 1/60th of a second."

Lockwood published his results in Military and Aerospace Programmable
Logic Device (MALPD), Sept.,2003.

The paper is dowloadable online at:
http://www.arl.wustl.edu/~lockwood/publications/MAPLD_2003_e10_lockwood_p.pdf.

Computer virus and Internet worm attacks are aggravating, costly, and
a threat to our homeland security. Recent attacks by Nimba, Code Red,
Slammer, SoBigF, and MSBlast have infected computers globally, clogged
large computer networks, and degraded corporate productivity. It can
take weeks to months for Information Technology staff to clean up all
of the computers throughout a network after an outbreak. The direct
cost to recover from just the 'Code Red version two' worm alone was
$2.6 billion.

The United States has come to depend on computers to support its
critical infrastructure. The nation's power system, financial
networks, and military infrastructure all rely on computers to
operate. As a form of terrorism, a foreign agent could introduce a
malignant worm or virus disguised as benign data to attack computers
throughout a network. Terrorists could use this malware to bring down
crucial components of our corporate infrastructure and military.

In much the same way that a human virus spreads between people that
come in contact, computer viruses and Internet worms spread when
computers come in contact over the Internet. Viruses spread when a
computer user downloads unsafe software, opens a malicious attachment,
or exchanges infected computer programs over a network. An Internet
Worm spreads over the network automatically when malicious software
exploits one or more vulnerabilities in an operating system, a Web
server, a database application, or an email exchange system.

Existing firewalls do little to protect against such attacks. Once a
few systems are compromised, they proceed to infect other machines,
which in turn quickly spread throughout a network.

"As is the case with the spread of a contagious disease like SARS, the
number of infected computers will grow exponentially unless
contained," Lockwood said. "The speed of today's computers and vast
reach of the Internet, however, make a computer virus or Internet worm
spread much faster than human diseases. In the case of SoBigF, over
one million computers were infected within the first 24 hours and over
200 million computers were infected within a week."

Today, most Internet worms and viruses are not detected until after
they reach an end-user's personal computer. It is difficult for
companies, universities, and government agencies to maintain
network-wide security.

Unfair burden on end-users

"Placing the burden of detection on the end -user isn't efficient or
trustworthy because individuals tend to ignore warnings about
installing new protection software and the latest security updates,
"Lockwood pointed out. "New vulnerabilities are discovered daily, but
not all users take the time to download new patches the moment they
are posted. It can take weeks for an IT department to eradicate old
versions of vulnerable software running on end-system computers."

The high speed of the FPX is possible because the logic on the FPX is
implemented as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) circuits, Lockwood
explained. These circuits are used to scan and filter Internet traffic
for worms and viruses using FPGA circuits that operate in parallel.
Lockwood's group has developed and implemented circuits that process
the Internet protocol (IP) packets directly in hardware. They also
have developed several circuits that rapidly scan streams of data for
strings or regular expressions in order to find the signatures of
malware carried within the payload of Internet packets.

"On the FPX, the reconfigurable hardware can be dynamically
reconfigured over the network to search for new attack patterns,"
Lockwood said. "Should a new Internet worm or virus be detected,
multiple FPX devices can be immediately programmed to search for their
signatures. Each FPX device then filters traffic passing over the
network, so that it can immediately quarantine a virus or Internet
worms within sub networks (subnets). By just installing a few such
devices between subnets, a single device can protect thousands of
users. By installing multiple devices at key locations throughout a
network, large networks can be protected."

A local St. Louis company, Global Velocity, is building commercial
systems that use the FPX technology. The company is working with local
companies, international corporations, universities, and the
government to make plans to install systems in both local-area and
wide-area networks. The device self-integrates easily into existing
Gigabit Ethernet or Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks.

The FPX itself fits within a rack-mounted chassis that can be
installed in any network closet. When a virus or worm is detected, the
system can either silently drop the malicious traffic or generate a
pop-up message on an end-user's computer. An administrator uses a
simple, web-based interface to control and configure the system.

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