Computer scientists develop hack-proof software

After repairing the damage, the software, named A3, then prevents a hacker ever infecting the computer again.It works with a virtual computer that emulates the operations of a specific machine and is designed to watch over the virtual machine’s operating system and applications.Eric Eide, Research Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, […]

After repairing the damage, the software, named A3, then prevents a hacker ever infecting the computer again.
It works with a virtual computer that emulates the operations of a specific machine and is designed to watch over the virtual machine’s operating system and applications.
Eric Eide, Research Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, explained that A3 is intended to protect servers and business computers that run on the Linux operating system, as well as military machines.
In the future it could be adapted for home laptops too.
“A3 technologies could find their way into consumer products someday, which would help consumer devices protect themselves against fast-spreading malware or internal corruption of software components. But we haven’t tried those experiments yet,” he said.
The team, including Professor John Regehr, created ‘stackable debuggers’ that run on top of each other and look inside the virtual machine while it is running to search for any unusual behaviour.
Unlike a normal virus scanner on a consumer PC, that compares a catalogue of known viruses to something that has infected the computer, A3 can detect new, unknown viruses or malware automatically by sensing that something unusual is occurring in the computer’s operation.
The A3 software works with virtual computer that emulates the operations of a specific machine and is designed to watch over the virtual machine’s operating system and applications.
At the moment, it can protect servers and computers that run on the Linux operating system.
‘Stackable debuggers’ run on top of each other and look inside the virtual machine while it is running to search for any unusual behaviour.
Unlike normal virus scanners on consumer PCs that compare a catalogue of known viruses to something that has infected the computer, A3 can detect new, unknown viruses or malware automatically by sensing that something is occurring in the computer’s operation that is not correct.
It can then stop the virus, repair damaged code and learn not to let the bug access the machine again.
It can then stop the virus, repair damaged code and learn not to let the bug access the machine again.
As well as boosting cyber security for military missions, A3 could be used by web services such as Amazon, which if attacked by a virus, could repair its service in minutes without having to take the servers down and stop customers from shopping.
To demonstrate the power of the system, the researchers, together with Massachusetts-based defence contractor, Raytheon BBN, showed officials from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) how their software copes with a software bug called Shellshock.
Shellshock was a software vulnerability discovered last September that affected many web servers and most Apple laptops and desktops, which allowed a hacker to control a machine.
Within the first 24 hours of the disclosure of Shellshock, security researchers reported that more than 17,000 attacks by hackers had been made with the bug.
Military: The software could be used to provide extra protection for sensitive military machines.
Business: A3 could be used by web services such as Amazon, which if attacked by a virus, could repair its service in minutes without having to take the servers down and stop customers from shopping.
Consumers: A3 could be adapted for home laptops to help consumer devices protect themselves against fast-spreading malware or internal corruption of software components.
A3 discovered the Shellshock attack on a web server and repaired the damage in four minutes, Professor Eide said.
The team also tested A3 successfully on another six pieces of malware.
He said: “It is a pretty big deal that a computer system could automatically, and in a short amount of time, find an acceptable fix to a widespread and important security vulnerability.”
“It’s pretty cool when you can pick the “Bug of the Week” and it works.”
The team will work on a way of using A3 in cloud computing next.
While the software is open source – and free to use – it will probably be incorporated into commercial products.