~/talk

Spooky Action at a Distance: Generating Waves over the Wire for Novel C2

Talkat RSA Conference 2024 · 2024-05-06..05-09· [security, networking]
slides:none on file

A new tool called QuantumCat encodes data as timing, size and port changes rather than payloads, using Scapy/Ethernet/ICMP/UDP/TCP (QUIC-friendly) to send packets as bits; a live demo sends packets across ~30 hops to a US‑West VM and reliably transfers a 6.4 MB executable in ~2 hours. Network sensors that rely on Snort/Zeek session inspection miss it because packets contain no payload; frequency modulation and amplitude modulation methods work and bi‑directional comms are possible, while detection requires expensive behavioral correlation.

AI-written summary · about

  1. 0:00Spooky Action at a Distance intro
  2. 1:05Traditional C2 concerns
  3. 3:33Detection cross section
  4. 8:12Layer Four and Five Detection Challenges
  5. 11:04QuantumCat for covert comms
  6. 13:15QuantumCat modulation
  7. 17:43Live demo: frequency mod
  8. 20:54Testing over 30 hops
  9. 24:05Amplitude & phase mod
  10. 28:48GitHub tools & evasion
  11. 32:19Improving firewall rules
  12. 34:29Network visibility strategies
  13. 36:58Detecting QuantumCat challenges
  14. 38:01Q&A
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