Propagating Threat Scores With a TLS Ecosystem Graph Model Derived by Active Measurements

Authors: Markus Sosnowski, Patrick Sattler, Johannes Zirngibl, Tim Betzer, Georg Carle

Published in Proc. Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference (TMA), 2024

Abstract:
The Internet is shaped by independent actors and heterogeneous deployments. With the wide adoption of Transport Layer Security (TLS), a whole ecosystem of intertwined entities emerged. Acquiring a comprehensive view allows searching for previously unknown malicious entities and providing valuable cyber-threat intelligence. Actively collected Internet-wide Domain Name System (DNS) and TLS meta-data can provide the basis for such large-scale analyses. However, in order to efficiently navigate the vast volumes of data, an effective methodology is required. This work proposes a graph model of the TLS ecosystem that utilizes the relationships between servers, domains, and certificates. A Probabilistic Threat Propagation (PTP) algorithm is then used to propagate a threat score from existing blocklists to related nodes. We conducted a one-year-long measurement study of 13 monthly active Internet-wide DNS and TLS measurements to evaluate the methodology. The latest measurement found four highly suspicious clusters among the nodes with high threat scores. External threat intelligence services were used to confirm a high rate of maliciousness in the rest of the newly found servers. With the help of optimized thresholds, we identified 557 domains and 11 IP addresses throughout the last year before they were known to be malicious. Up to 40% of the identified nodes appeared on average three months later on the input blocklist. This work proposes a versatile graph model to analyze the TLS ecosystem and a PTP analysis to help security researchers focus on suspicious subsets of the Internet when searching for unknown threats.

Recommended citation: Markus Sosnowski, Patrick Sattler, Johannes Zirngibl, Tim Betzer, Georg Carle, "Propagating Threat Scores With a TLS Ecosystem Graph Model Derived by Active Measurements." Proc. Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference (TMA), 2024.