Evolution of Malware in the Digital Transformation Age

Abstract

As corporations are stepping into the new digital transformation age and adopting leading-edge technologies such as cloud, mobile, and big data, it becomes crucial for them to contemplate the risks and rewards of this adoption. At the same time, the new wave of malware attacks is posing a severe impediment in implementing these technologies. This chapter discusses some of the complications, challenges, and issues plaguing current malware analysis and detection techniques. Some of the key challenges discussed are automation, native code, obfuscations, morphing, and anti-reverse engineering. Solutions and recommendations are provided to solve some of these challenges. To stimulate further research in this thriving area, the authors highlight some promising future research directions. The authors believe that this chapter provides an auspicious basis for future researchers who intend to know more about the evolution of malware and will act as a motivation for enhancing the current and developing the new techniques for malware analysis and detection.