Open Access

ARTICLE

An Asset-Based Approach to Mitigate Zero-Day Ransomware Attacks

by Farag Azzedin^*, Husam Suwad, Md Mahfuzur Rahman

Information & Computer Science Department, KFUPM, Dhahran, KSA

* Corresponding Author: Farag Azzedin. Email:

Computers, Materials & Continua 2022, 73(2), 3003-3020. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2022.028646

Received 15 February 2022; Accepted 19 April 2022; Issue published 16 June 2022

Abstract

This article presents an asset-based security system where security practitioners build their systems based on information they own and not solicited by observing attackers’ behavior. Current security solutions rely on information coming from attackers. Examples are current monitoring and detection security solutions such as intrusion prevention/detection systems and firewalls. This article envisions creating an imbalance between attackers and defenders in favor of defenders. As such, we are proposing to flip the security game such that it will be led by defenders and not attackers. We are proposing a security system that does not observe the behavior of the attack. On the contrary, we draw, plan, and follow up our own protection strategy regardless of the attack behavior. The objective of our security system is to protect assets rather than protect against attacks. Virtual machine introspection is used to intercept, inspect, and analyze system calls. The system call-based approach is utilized to detect zero-day ransomware attacks. The core idea is to take advantage of Xen and DRAKVUF for system call interception, and leverage system calls to detect illegal operations towards identified critical assets. We utilize our vision by proposing an asset-based approach to mitigate zero-day ransomware attacks. The obtained results are promising and indicate that our prototype will achieve its goals.

---

Keywords

---