Bot Reaper

Problem Statement

Organizations invest a lot of time, money, and resources into their network security so that they can better protect their data and reduce their risk of data breach. But what resources are invested into the security of their remote workers networks?

In a world where remote work is becoming increasingly permanent, and where everyday appliances like fridges, vacuum cleaners, and baby monitors are increasingly connected to the internet, the security of home networks has been left in the dust. Each of these smart, internet-connected appliances often found in home networks and often designed to be cheap, not secure, can be compromised and assimilated into a botnet, networks that contain thousands of compromised devices globally. Botnets are utilized to harm others while individual bots typically try to assimilate other devices into the network and steal valuable data like credentials and intellectual property. This data includes company data from company devices used on home networks. So, how do organizations detect a compromised device on their remote workers networks?

Our Solution

Unlike current endpoint protection which only looks inward, at network traffic coming to or from the company device, Bot Reaper looks outward and additionally analyzes network traffic between other devices in the network. When a threat is discovered, configured company personnel will be alerted, allowing an organization’s IT staff to detect and act upon compromised devices, and bots in particular, in remoter worker's networks where enterprise security controls are lacking, before enterprise devices are targeted. A simple Bot Reaper notification can prevent a security incident that will otherwise go unnoticed.

Acknowledgements

The Bot Reaper team would like to thank these individuals for their esteemed guidance in developing and improving our solution that will benefit organizations in an underresearched and undervalued area of security:

• Ryan Liu
• Dr. Sekhar Sarukkai
• Pascal Issa
• Our graduating class of Spring 2022