TY - JOUR
T1 - An adaptive multi-layer botnet detection technique using machine learning classifiers
AU - Khan, Riaz Ullah
AU - Zhang, Xiaosong
AU - Kumar, Rajesh
AU - Sharif, Abubakar
AU - Golilarz, Noorbakhsh Amiri
AU - Alazab, Mamoun
PY - 2019/6/11
Y1 - 2019/6/11
N2 - In recent years, the botnets have been the most common threats to network security since it exploits multiple malicious codes like a worm, Trojans, Rootkit, etc. The botnets have been used to carry phishing links, to perform attacks and provide malicious services on the internet. It is challenging to identify Peer-to-peer (P2P) botnets as compared to Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and other types of botnets because P2P traffic has typical features of the centralization and distribution. To resolve the issues of P2P botnet identification, we propose an effective multi-layer traffic classification method by applying machine learning classifiers on features of network traffic. Our work presents a framework based on decision trees which effectively detects P2P botnets. A decision tree algorithm is applied for feature selection to extract the most relevant features and ignore the irrelevant features. At the first layer, we filter non-P2P packets to reduce the amount of network traffic through well-known ports, Domain Name System (DNS). query, and flow counting. The second layer further characterized the captured network traffic into non-P2P and P2P. At the third layer of our model, we reduced the features which may marginally affect the classification. At the final layer, we successfully detected P2P botnets using decision tree Classifier by extracting network communication features. Furthermore, our experimental evaluations show the significance of the proposed method in P2P botnets detection and demonstrate an average accuracy of 98.7%.
AB - In recent years, the botnets have been the most common threats to network security since it exploits multiple malicious codes like a worm, Trojans, Rootkit, etc. The botnets have been used to carry phishing links, to perform attacks and provide malicious services on the internet. It is challenging to identify Peer-to-peer (P2P) botnets as compared to Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and other types of botnets because P2P traffic has typical features of the centralization and distribution. To resolve the issues of P2P botnet identification, we propose an effective multi-layer traffic classification method by applying machine learning classifiers on features of network traffic. Our work presents a framework based on decision trees which effectively detects P2P botnets. A decision tree algorithm is applied for feature selection to extract the most relevant features and ignore the irrelevant features. At the first layer, we filter non-P2P packets to reduce the amount of network traffic through well-known ports, Domain Name System (DNS). query, and flow counting. The second layer further characterized the captured network traffic into non-P2P and P2P. At the third layer of our model, we reduced the features which may marginally affect the classification. At the final layer, we successfully detected P2P botnets using decision tree Classifier by extracting network communication features. Furthermore, our experimental evaluations show the significance of the proposed method in P2P botnets detection and demonstrate an average accuracy of 98.7%.
KW - Anomaly detection
KW - Botnet detection
KW - Machine learning
KW - Network traffic identification
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067256466&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/app9112375
DO - 10.3390/app9112375
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85067256466
VL - 9
SP - 1
EP - 22
JO - Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
JF - Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
IS - 11
M1 - 2375
ER -