Patents by Inventor Michael E. Locasto

Michael E. Locasto 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).

  • Patent number: 11934538
    Abstract: In general, this disclosure describes techniques for replacing target cryptographic primitives in executable binary files with other, potentially more secure, cryptographic primitives. In some examples, a computing system for augmenting cryptographic executables includes a locator to determine if an executable program in an executable binary file includes a target cryptographic primitive. The computing system can include a patch generator to generate patch instructions in response to a determination by the locator that the executable program includes the target cryptographic primitive. The patch instructions cause the executable program to execute a replacement cryptographic primitive instead of the target cryptographic primitive. A rewriter engine of the computing system can modify, based on the patch instructions, the executable program to generate a modified executable binary file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: SRI INTERNATIONAL
    Inventors: Karim Eldefrawy, Hassen Saidi, Michael E. Locasto, Norrathep Rattanavipanon
  • Patent number: 11689544
    Abstract: Intrusion detection systems and methods monitor legal control messages in an operational control system to detect subtly malicious sequences of control messages with undesirable emergent effects on devices in the operational control system. A message provenance component may investigate system-level correlations between messages rather than detecting if individual messages are anomalous. A semantic fuzzing component may search, based on the operational effect of candidate message sequences, the space of legal messages for sequences that cause actual harm. Behavior oracles may be used to test message sequences to identify sequences that induce drift towards a failure state. The intrusion detection system is able to prevent harm and disruption arising from control messages that individually appear legitimate and benign but that, in combination with other messages, can cause undesirable outcomes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: SRI INTERNATIONAL
    Inventors: Gabriela Ciocarlie, Michael E. Locasto, Cherita Corbett, Dejan Jovanovic
  • Patent number: 11575688
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for malware characterization includes receiving data identifying a presence of at least one anomaly of a respective portion of a processing function captured by at least one of each of at least two different sensor payloads and one sensor payload at two different times, determining a correlation between the at least two anomalies identified by the data captured by the at least one sensor payloads, and determining a presence of malware in the processing function based on the determined correlation. The method, apparatus and system can further include predicting an occurrence of at least one anomaly in the network based on at least one of current sensor payload data or previously observed and stored sensor payload data, recommending and/or initiating a remediation action and reporting a result of the malware characterization to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: SRI International
    Inventors: Sek Chai, Michael E. Locasto, Scott Oberg, Nicholas Vitovitch
  • Publication number: 20210232695
    Abstract: In general, this disclosure describes techniques for replacing target cryptographic primitives in executable binary files with other, potentially more secure, cryptographic primitives. In some examples, a computing system for augmenting cryptographic executables includes a locator to determine if an executable program in an executable binary file includes a target cryptographic primitive. The computing system can include a patch generator to generate patch instructions in response to a determination by the locator that the executable program includes the target cryptographic primitive. The patch instructions cause the executable program to execute a replacement cryptographic primitive instead of the target cryptographic primitive. A rewriter engine of the computing system can modify, based on the patch instructions, the executable program to generate a modified executable binary file.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2020
    Publication date: July 29, 2021
    Inventors: Karim Eldefrawy, Hassen Saidi, Michael E. Locasto, Norrathep Rattanavipanon
  • Publication number: 20190342308
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for malware characterization includes receiving data identifying a presence of at least one anomaly of a respective portion of a processing function captured by at least one of each of at least two different sensor payloads and one sensor payload at two different times, determining a correlation between the at least two anomalies identified by the data captured by the at least one sensor payloads, and determining a presence of malware in the processing function based on the determined correlation. The method, apparatus and system can further include predicting an occurrence of at least one anomaly in the network based on at least one of current sensor payload data or previously observed and stored sensor payload data, recommending and/or initiating a remediation action and reporting a result of the malware characterization to a user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2019
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Inventors: Sek Chai, Michael E. Locasto, Scott Oberg, Nicholas Vitovitch
  • Patent number: 10305919
    Abstract: In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods that protect an application from attacks are provided. In some embodiments of the present invention, input from an input source, such as traffic from a communication network, can be routed through a filtering proxy that includes one or more filters, classifiers, and/or detectors. In response to the input passing through the filtering proxy to the application, a supervision framework monitors the input for attacks (e.g., code injection attacks). The supervision framework can provide feedback to tune the components of the filtering proxy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Michael E. Locasto, Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos D. Keromytis, Ke Wang
  • Publication number: 20190089722
    Abstract: Intrusion detection systems and methods monitor legal control messages in an operational control system to detect subtly malicious sequences of control messages with undesirable emergent effects on devices in the operational control system. A message provenance component may investigate system-level correlations between messages rather than detecting if individual messages are anomalous. A semantic fuzzing component may search, based on the operational effect of candidate message sequences, the space of legal messages for sequences that cause actual harm. Behavior oracles may be used to test message sequences to identify sequences that induce drift towards a failure state. The intrusion detection system is able to prevent harm and disruption arising from control messages that individually appear legitimate and benign but that, in combination with other messages, can cause undesirable outcomes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Publication date: March 21, 2019
    Inventors: Gabriela Ciocarlie, Michael E. Locasto, Cherita Corbett, Dejan Jovanovic
  • Publication number: 20170070514
    Abstract: In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods that protect an application from attacks are provided. In some embodiments of the present invention, input from an input source, such as traffic from a communication network, can be routed through a filtering proxy that includes one or more filters, classifiers, and/or detectors. In response to the input passing through the filtering proxy to the application, a supervision framework monitors the input for attacks (e.g., code injection attacks). The supervision framework can provide feedback to tune the components of the filtering proxy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2016
    Publication date: March 9, 2017
    Inventors: Michael E. Locasto, Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos D. Keromytis, Ke Wang
  • Patent number: 9338174
    Abstract: In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods that protect an application from attacks are provided. In some embodiments of the present invention, input from an input source, such as traffic from a communication network, can be routed through a filtering proxy that includes one or more filters, classifiers, and/or detectors. In response to the input passing through the filtering proxy to the application, a supervision framework monitors the input for attacks (e.g., code injection attacks). The supervision framework can provide feedback to tune the components of the filtering proxy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Michael E Locasto, Salvatore J Stolfo, Angelos D Keromytis, Ke Wang
  • Patent number: 9218254
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for recovering an application from a fault or an attack are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method is provided for enabling a software application to recover from a fault condition. The method includes specifying constrained data items and assigning a set of repair procedures to the constrained data items. The method further includes detecting a fault condition on the constrained data items during execution of the software application, which triggers at least one repair procedure. The triggered repair procedures are executed and the execution of the software application is restored. In some embodiments, the restoring comprises providing memory rollback to a point of execution of the software application before the fault condition was detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Michael E. Locasto, Angelos D. Keromytis, Angelos Stavrou, Gabriela F. Ciocarlie
  • Publication number: 20150261624
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for recovering an application from a fault or an attack are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method is provided for enabling a software application to recover from a fault condition. The method includes specifying constrained data items and assigning a set of repair procedures to the constrained data items. The method further includes detecting a fault condition on the constrained data items during execution of the software application, which triggers at least one repair procedure. The triggered repair procedures are executed and the execution of the software application is restored. In some embodiments, the restoring comprises providing memory rollback to a point of execution of the software application before the fault condition was detected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Publication date: September 17, 2015
    Inventors: Michael E. Locasto, Angelos D. Keromytis, Angelos Stavrou, Gabriela F. Ciocarlie
  • Publication number: 20150264058
    Abstract: In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods that protect an application from attacks are provided. In some embodiments of the present invention, input from an input source, such as traffic from a communication network, can be routed through a filtering proxy that includes one or more filters, classifiers, and/or detectors. In response to the input passing through the filtering proxy to the application, a supervision framework monitors the input for attacks (e.g., code injection attacks). The supervision framework can provide feedback to tune the components of the filtering proxy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2014
    Publication date: September 17, 2015
    Inventors: Michael E Locasto, Salvatore J Stolfo, Angelos D Keromytis, Ke Wang
  • Patent number: 8924782
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for recovering an application from a fault or an attack are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method is provided for enabling a software application to recover from a fault condition. The method includes specifying constrained data items and assigning a set of repair procedures to the constrained data items. The method further includes detecting a fault condition on the constrained data items during execution of the software application, which triggers at least one repair procedure. The triggered repair procedures are executed and the execution of the software application is restored. In some embodiments, the restoring comprises providing memory rollback to a point of execution of the software application before the fault condition was detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Michael E. Locasto, Angelos D. Keromytis, Angelos Stavrou, Gabriela F. Ciocarlie
  • Patent number: 8763103
    Abstract: In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods that protect an application from attacks are provided. In some embodiments of the present invention, input from an input source, such as traffic from a communication network, can be routed through a filtering proxy that includes one or more filters, classifiers, and/or detectors. In response to the input passing through the filtering proxy to the application, a supervision framework monitors the input for attacks (e.g., code injection attacks). The supervision framework can provide feedback to tune the components of the filtering proxy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Michael E. Locasto, Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos D. Keromytis, Ke Wang
  • Patent number: 8667588
    Abstract: Systems and methods provide an alert correlator and an alert distributor that enable early signs of an attack to be detected and rapidly disseminated to collaborating systems. The alert correlator utilizes data structures to correlate alert detections and provide a mechanism through which threat information can be revealed to other collaborating systems. The alert distributor uses an efficient technique to group collaborating systems and then pass data between certain members of those groups according to a schedule. In this way data can be routinely distributed without generating excess traffic loads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos D. Keromytis, Vishal Misra, Michael E. Locasto, Janak Parekh
  • Patent number: 8613096
    Abstract: The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that generates data patches for vulnerabilities. The system can include devices and components that examine exploits received or obtained from data streams, constructs probes and determines whether the probes take advantage of vulnerabilities. Based at least in part on such determinations data patches are dynamically generated to remedy the hitherto vulnerabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Marcus Peinado, Weidong Cui, Jiahe Helen Wang, Michael E. Locasto
  • Patent number: 8407160
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for generating sanitized data, sanitizing anomaly detection models, and generating anomaly detection models are provided. In some embodiments, methods for generating sanitized data are provided. The methods including: dividing a first training dataset comprised of a plurality of training data items into a plurality of data subsets each including at least one training data item of the plurality of training data items of the first training dataset; based on the plurality of data subsets, generating a plurality of distinct anomaly detection micro-models; testing at least one data item of the plurality of data items of a second training dataset of training data items against each of the plurality of micro-models to produce a score for the at least one tested data item; and generating at least one output dataset based on the score for the at least one tested data item.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Gabriela Cretu, Angelos Stavrou, Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos D. Keromytis, Michael E. Locasto
  • Patent number: 7962798
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and media for enabling a software application to recover from a fault condition, and for protecting a software application from a fault condition, are provided. In some embodiments, methods include detecting a fault condition during execution of the software application, restoring execution of the software application to a previous point of execution, the previous point of execution occurring during execution of a first subroutine in the software application, and forcing the first subroutine to forego further execution and return to a caller of the first subroutine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Michael E. Locasto, Angelos D. Keromytis, Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos Stavrou, Gabriela Cretu, Stylianos Sidiroglou, Jason Nieh, Oren Laadan
  • Publication number: 20100293407
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for recovering an application from a fault or an attack are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method is provided for enabling a software application to recover from a fault condition. The method includes specifying constrained data items and assigning a set of repair procedures to the constrained data items. The method further includes detecting a fault condition on the constrained data items during execution of the software application, which triggers at least one repair procedure. The triggered repair procedures are executed and the execution of the software application is restored. In some embodiments, the restoring comprises providing memory rollback to a point of execution of the software application before the fault condition was detected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2008
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Applicant: THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF
    Inventors: Michael E. Locasto, Angelos D. Keromytis, Angelos Stavrou, Gabriela F. Ciocarlie
  • Publication number: 20100281542
    Abstract: Systems and methods provide an alert correlator and an alert distributor that enable early signs of an attack to be detected and rapidly disseminated to collaborating systems. The alert correlator utilizes data structures to correlate alert detections and provide a mechanism through which threat information can be revealed to other collaborating systems. The alert distributor uses an efficient technique to group collaborating systems and then pass data between certain members of those groups according to a schedule. In this way data can be routinely distributed without generating excess traffic loads.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2010
    Publication date: November 4, 2010
    Applicant: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Salvatore J. Stolfo, Angelos D. Keromytis, Vishal Misra, Michael E. Locasto, Janak Parekh