Patents by Inventor Salvatore J. Stolfo

Salvatore J. Stolfo has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20170034187
    Abstract: A system and methods for detecting intrusions in the operation of a computer system comprises a sensor configured to gather information regarding the operation of the computer system, to format the information in a data record having a predetermined format, and to transmit the data in the predetermined data format. A data warehouse is configured to receive the data record from the sensor in the predetermined data format and to store the data in a SQL database. A detection model generator is configured to request data records from the data warehouse in the predetermined data format, to generate an intrusion detection model based on said data records, and to transmit the intrusion detection model to the data warehouse according to the predetermined data format. A detector is configured to receive a data record in the predetermined data format from the sensor and to classify the data record in real-time as one of normal operation and an attack based on said intrusion detection model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2016
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Inventors: Andrew Honig, Andrew Howard, Eleazar Eskin, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20170031883
    Abstract: Systems and methods are presented for content extraction from markup language text. The content extraction process may parse markup language text into a hierarchical data model and then apply one or more filters. Output filters may be used to make the process more versatile. The operation of the content extraction process and the one or more filters may be controlled by one or more settings set by a user, or automatically by a classifier. The classifier may automatically enter settings by classifying markup language text and entering settings based on this classification. Automatic classification may be performed by clustering unclassified markup language texts with previously classified markup language texts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2016
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Applicant: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Suhit Gupta, Gail Kaiser, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Patent number: 9544322
    Abstract: In accordance with some embodiments of the disclosed subject matter, systems, methods, and media for protecting a digital data processing device from attack are provided. For example, in some embodiments, a method for protecting a digital data processing device from attach is provided, that includes, within a virtual environment; receiving at least one attachment to an electronic mail; and executing the al least one attachment; and based on the execution of the at least one attachment, determining whether anomalous behavior occurs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Stylianos Sidiroglou, Angelos D. Keromytis, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160364568
    Abstract: Methods, media, and systems for detecting an anomalous sequence of function calls are provided. The methods can include compressing a sequence of function calls made by the execution of a program using a compression model; and determining the presence of an anomalous sequence of function calls in the sequence of function calls based on the extent to which the sequence of function calls is compressed. The methods can further include executing at least one known program; observing at least one sequence of function calls made by the execution of the at least one known program; assigning each type of function call in the at least one sequence of function calls made by the at least one known program a unique identifier; and creating at least part of the compression model by recording at least one sequence of unique identifiers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2016
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Applicant: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Angelos D. Keromytis, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160366169
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for detecting network anomalies are provided. In some embodiments, a training dataset of communication protocol messages having argument strings is received. The content and structure associated with each of the argument strings is determined and a probabilistic model is trained using the determined content and structure of each of the argument strings. A communication protocol message having an argument string that is transmitted from a first processor to a second processor across a computer network is received. The received communication protocol message is compared to the probabilistic model and then it is determined whether the communication protocol message is anomalous.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2015
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Yingbo Song, Angelos D. Keromytis, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160366165
    Abstract: A system and methods of detecting an occurrence of a violation of an email security policy of a computer system. A model relating to the transmission of prior emails through the computer system is defined which is derived from statistics relating to the prior emails. For selected emails to be analyzed, statistics concerning the selected email are gathered. Such statistics may refer to the behavior or other features of the selected emails, attachments to emails, or email accounts. The determination of whether a violation of an email security policy has occurred is performed by applying the model of prior email transmission to the statistics relating to the selected email. The model may be statistical or probabilistic. A model of prior email transmission may include grouping email recipients into cliques. A determination of a violation of a security policy may occur if email recipients for a particular email are in more than one clique.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2014
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo, Eleazar Eskin, Manasi Bhattacharyya, Shlomo Herskop
  • Patent number: 9519778
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for outputting a dataset based upon anomaly detection are provided. In some embodiments, methods for outputting a dataset based upon anomaly detection: receive a training dataset having a plurality of n-grams, which plurality includes a first plurality of distinct training n-grams each being a first size; compute a first plurality of appearance frequencies, each for a corresponding one of the first plurality of distinct training n-grams; receive an input dataset including first input n-grams each being the first size; define a first window in the input dataset; identify as being first matching n-grams the first input n-grams in the first window that correspond to the first plurality of distinct training n-grams; compute a first anomaly detection score for the input dataset using the first matching n-grams and the first plurality of appearance frequencies; and output the input dataset based on the first anomaly detection score.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Salvatore J Stolfo, Ke Wang, Janak Parekh
  • Patent number: 9501639
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and media for providing trap-based defenses are provided. In accordance with some embodiments, a method for providing trap-based defenses is provided, the method comprising: generating decoy information based at least in part on actual information in a computing environment, wherein the decoy information is generated to comply with one or more document properties; embedding a beacon into the decoy information; and inserting the decoy information with the embedded beacon into the computing environment, wherein the embedded beacon provides a first indication that the decoy information has been accessed by an attacker and wherein the embedded beacon provides a second indication that differentiates between the decoy information and the actual information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos D. Keromytis, Brian M. Bowen, Shlomo Hershkop, Vasileios P. Kemerlis, Pratap V. Prabhu, Malek Ben Salem
  • Patent number: 9497203
    Abstract: A system and methods for detecting intrusions in the operation of a computer system comprises a sensor configured to gather information regarding the operation of the computer system, to format the information in a data record having a predetermined format, and to transmit the data in the predetermined data format. A data warehouse is configured to receive the data record from the sensor in the predetermined data format and to store the data in a SQL database. A detection model generator is configured to request data records from the data warehouse in the predetermined data format, to generate an intrusion detection model based on said data records, and to transmit the intrusion detection model to the data warehouse according to the predetermined data format. A detector is configured to receive a data record in the predetermined data format from the sensor and to classify the data record in real-time as one of normal operation and an attack based on said intrusion detection model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
    Inventors: Andrew Honig, Andrew Howard, Eleazar Eskin, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160330224
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and medium are provided for detecting anomalous payloads transmitted through a network. The system receives payloads within the network and determines a length for data contained in each payload. A statistical distribution is generated for data contained in each payload received within the network, and compared to a selected model distribution representative of normal payloads transmitted through the network. The model payload can be selected such that it has a predetermined length range that encompasses the length for data contained in the received payload. Anomalous payloads are then identified based on differences detected between the statistical distribution of received payloads and the model distribution. The system can also provide for automatic training and incremental updating of models.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Publication date: November 10, 2016
    Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo, Ke Wang
  • Publication number: 20160277444
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for generating bait information for trap-based defenses are provided. In some embodiments, methods for generating bait information for trap-based defenses include: recording historical information of a network; translating the historical information; and generating bait information by tailoring the translated historical information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2016
    Publication date: September 22, 2016
    Inventors: Angelos D. Keromytis, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Patent number: 9450979
    Abstract: Methods, media, and systems for detecting an anomalous sequence of function calls are provided. The methods can include compressing a sequence of function calls made by the execution of a program using a compression model; and determining the presence of an anomalous sequence of function calls in the sequence of function calls based on the extent to which the sequence of function calls is compressed. The methods can further include executing at least one known program; observing at least one sequence of function calls made by the execution of the at least one known program; assigning each type of function call in the at least one sequence of function calls made by the at least one known program a unique identifier; and creating at least part of the compression model by recording at least one sequence of unique identifiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Angelos D. Keromytis, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160246665
    Abstract: Methods, media, and systems for detecting anomalous program executions are provided. In some embodiments, methods for detecting anomalous program executions are provided, comprising: executing at least a part of a program in an emulator; comparing a function call made in the emulator to a model of function calls for the at least a part of the program; and identifying the function call as anomalous based on the comparison. In some embodiments, methods for detecting anomalous program executions are provided, comprising: modifying a program to include indicators of program-level function calls being made during execution of the program; comparing at least one of the indicators of program-level function calls made in the emulator to a model of function calls for the at least a part of the program; and identifying a function call corresponding to the at least one of the indicators as anomalous based on the comparison.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Publication date: August 25, 2016
    Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos D. Keromytis, Stylianos Sidiroglou
  • Patent number: 9419981
    Abstract: Methods, media, and systems for securing communications between a first node and a second node are provided. In some embodiments, methods for securing communication between a first node and a second node are provided. The methods comprising: receiving at least one model of behavior of the second node at the first node; and authorizing the first node to receive traffic from the second node based on the difference between the at least one model of behavior of the second node and at least one model of behavior of the first node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo, Gabriela F. Ciocarlie, Vanessa Frias-Martinez, Janak Parekh, Angelos D. Keromytis, Joseph Sherrick
  • Patent number: 9392017
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and media for inhibiting attacks on embedded devices are provided, in some embodiments, a system for inhibiting on embedded devices is provided, the system comprises a processor that is configured to: identify an embedded device that is configured to provide one or more services to one or more digital processing devices within a communications network; receive a first firmware associated with the embedded device; generate a second firmware that is functionally equivalent to the first firmware by: determining unused code within the first firmware; removing the unused code within the second firmware; and restructuring remaining code portions of the first firmware into memory positions within the second firmware; and inject the second firmware into the embedded device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Ang Cui, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160191561
    Abstract: A method for unsupervised anomaly detection, which are algorithms that are designed to process unlabeled data. Data elements are mapped to a feature space which is typically a vector space d. Anomalies are detected by determining which points lies in sparse regions of the feature space. Two feature maps are used for mapping data elements to a feature apace. A first map is a data-dependent normalization feature map which we apply to network connections. A second feature map is a spectrum kernel which we apply to system call traces.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2016
    Publication date: June 30, 2016
    Applicant: THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
    Inventors: Eleazar Eskin, Andrew Oliver Arnold, Michael Prerau, Leonid Portnoy, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160182545
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and media for masquerade attack detection by monitoring computer user behavior are provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 29, 2016
    Publication date: June 23, 2016
    Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo, Malek Ben Salem, Shlomo Hershkop
  • Patent number: 9372838
    Abstract: Systems and methods are presented for content extraction from markup language text. The content extraction process may parse markup language text into a hierarchical data model and then apply one or more filters. Output filters may be used to make the process more versatile. The operation of the content extraction process and the one or more filters may be controlled by one or more settings set by a user, or automatically by a classifier. The classifier may automatically enter settings by classifying markup language text and entering settings based on this classification. Automatic classification may be performed by clustering unclassified markup language texts with previously classified markup language texts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Suhit Gupta, Gail Kaiser, Salvatore J Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160171197
    Abstract: The interaction of a plurality of users with a computer system is monitored and measurements are made of different features of this interaction such as process creation, registry key changes, and file system actions. These measurements are then analyzed to identify those features that are more discriminatory. The set of features is then used to develop for each user a model of his/her interaction with the computer system that can then be used to authenticate that user when interacting with the computer system at a later time. Advantageously, these steps are performed automatically and may be performed periodically or even continuously to verify that each user of the computer system is indeed the individual he/she purports to be. Illustratively, the feature extraction is performed using Fisher's criteria; and the user model is developed using a Gaussian mixture model. A method for updating the user model is also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Publication date: June 16, 2016
    Applicant: ALLURE SECURITY TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventors: Yingbo Song, Salvatore J. Stolfo
  • Publication number: 20160156656
    Abstract: Methods, systems and media for evaluating layered computer security products are provided. In some embodiments, the method comprises: (a) identifying portions of attack data associated with an attack; (b) linking the portions of attack data; (c) testing security products using the linked attack data, at least two of the security products using different portions of the linked attack data; (d) storing the results of the testing; (e) repeating (a)-(d) for multiple attacks; receiving information identifying a subset of the security products from a remote computing device; identifying a first set of detected attacks for each of the plurality of security product using the stored results; determining a number of attacks in a union of each of the first sets of identified attacks; determining a detection rate for the identified security products based on the union and the number of tested attacks; and causing the detection rate to be presented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2013
    Publication date: June 2, 2016
    Inventors: Nathaniel Gordon Boggs, Salvatore J Stolfo