Behavior-based Malware Detection Research Articles

Advanced Cybersecurity Enhancement through Mathematical Models: A Comprehensive Approach Using Statistical Methods, Cryptographic Techniques, and Machine Learning Algorithms (SVM, Random Forest, and Neural Networks) for Behavior-Based Malware Detection

Advanced Cybersecurity Enhancement through Mathematical Models: A Comprehensive Approach Using Statistical Methods, Cryptographic Techniques, and Machine Learning Algorithms (SVM, Random Forest, and Neural Networks) for Behavior-Based Malware Detection

Artificial Intelligence and Malicious Code Detection

Malicious software has become a critical cybersecurity issue due to the increasing number of threats it poses to devices and internet environments. Traditional static scanning techniques and behavior-based malware detection methods have limitations in meeting the new requirements in information security due to high false positives and false negatives. In this work, we propose a CNN convolutional neural network-based method for detecting malicious code. Practical operations were conducted using the Cuckoo sandbox system, and Python programs were utilized to preprocess analytical reports. This article presents the construction of a deep learning training model for CNN designed to identify malicious code. The model is compared with machine learning and general antivirus tools for comprehensive evaluation. Experimental verification shows that our proposed method exhibits greater advantages in comparison and achieved excellent detection results with higher feasibility. The research significance of this work is highlighted as malicious software has become a core issue in cybersecurity. The method proposed in this article provides powerful support for addressing new needs in information security. This paper emphasizes the importance of utilizing CNN-based methods in detecting malware, which can better address the limitations of traditional detection techniques. Overall, this work provides an effective solution to detect malicious code and addresses a critical cybersecurity issue.

Dynamic Malware Detection Using Parameter-Augmented Semantic Chain

Due to the rapid development and widespread presence of malware, deep-learning-based malware detection methods have become a pivotal approach used by researchers to protect private data. Behavior-based malware detection is effective, but changes in the running environment and malware evolution can alter API calls used for detection. Most existing methods ignore API call parameters while analyzing them separately, which loses important semantic information. Therefore, considering API call parameters and their combinations can improve behavior-based malware detection. To improve the effectiveness of behavior-based malware detection systems, this paper proposes a novel API feature engineering method. The proposed method employs parameter-augmented semantic chains to improve the system’s resilience to unknown parameters and elevate the detection rate. The method entails semantically decomposing the API to derive a behavior semantic chain, which provides an initial representation of the behavior exhibited by samples. To further refine the accuracy of the behavior semantic chain in depicting the behavior, the proposed method integrates the parameters utilized by the API into the aforementioned semantic chain. Furthermore, an information compression technique is employed to minimize the loss of critical actions following truncation of API sequences. Finally, a deep learning model consisting of gated CNN, Bi-LSTM, and an attention mechanism is used to extract semantic features embedded within the API sequences and improve the overall detection accuracy. Additionally, we evaluate the proposed method on a competition dataset Datacon2019. Experiments indicate that the proposed method outperforms baselines employing vocabulary-based methods in both robustness to unknown parameters and detection rate.

Malware Analysis Using Memory Forensics

Abstract: Malware is still the most dangerous issue facing internet users in today's online environment. The newly created malware is separate from the traditional kind, has a more dynamic design, and typically combines traits from two or more different malware types. comparing the various memory acquisition tools that are available, each of which has a varying performance dependent on the setups, installed hardware, and operating system version. If the ending character is not present. To address the growing malware issue, new methodologies like machine learning must be employed. Investigate how cybersecurity is used in this study for malware detection and machine learning. In this study will look at the PE (portable executable) headers of malware and non-malware samples in order to build a malware classifier that can identify if malware is there or not. The development of behavior-based malware detection and classification methods using various machine learning approaches is addressed in this study along with behavior-based detection methods itself

Classification of malware using multinomial linked latent modular double q learning

In recent times, malware has progressed by utilizing distinct advanced machine learning techniques for detection. However, the model becomes complicated and the singular value decomposition and depth-based malware detectors failed to detect the malware significantly with minimum time and overhead. This paper proposes a multinomial linked latent dirichlet and modular double q learning (MLLD-MDQL) to efficiently detect malware based on the network behavior patterns. First, multinomial linked latent dirichlet network behavior extraction (ML-LDNBE) is applied to the input network for anomaly detection that extracts the behavior based on the network pattern. The behavior is extracted which are grouped to perform on the path protocol for analyzing repeated behaviors. Finally, the modular double q learning malware classification model is the grouped behaviors for significant malware detection. The effectiveness of proposed MLLD-M DQL method is compared with existing models. The results obtained by the proposed method show that the model combined with the machine learning (ML) significantly determined malware detection time and also reduced the false positive rate (FPR). The results showed that the false positive rate is significantly reduced by 42% for the proposed method better when compared to the existing behavior based malware detection model that obtained 62% of FPR.

Ensemble dynamic behavior detection method for adversarial malware

Behavior-based malware detection approaches combined with deep learning techniques are effective against unknown malware and malware variants. However, such approaches are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Adversarial malware is carefully optimized to evade detection through embedding numerous anti-detection techniques, e.g., inserting irrelevant API calls or using API calls in loops during the program execution to mask the real malicious intentions. To address this problem, we propose a novel ensemble adversarial dynamic behavior detection method aiming at three features of malicious API sequence, namely Immediacy, Locality, and Adversary. The individual classifiers of the ensemble method follow the “excellent and diverse” principle. We conduct extensive experiments over large real benign and malicious instances and demonstrate a generic, query-efficient gray-box adversarial attack to evaluate our model. The experimental results indicate that, compared with the individual classifiers, the detection accuracy is improved by up to 2.55%∼11.34% (without anti-attack), 8.64%∼21.33% (random perturbation), and 10.07%∼21.34% (benign perturbation) respectively. To sum up, our method provides better effectiveness, generality, and resiliency in the absence of a constant re-training of the detector needed to cope with the evolution of adversarial malware.

Detection of malicious software by analyzing the behavioral artifacts using machine learning algorithms

Malicious software deliberately affects the computer systems. Malware are analyzed using static or dynamic analysis techniques. Using these techniques, unique patterns are extracted to detect malware correctly. In this paper, a behavior-based malware detection technique is proposed. Various runtime features are extracted by setting up a dynamic analysis environment using the Cuckoo sandbox. Three primary features are processed for developing malware classifier. Firstly, printable strings are processed word by word using text mining techniques which produced a very high dimension matrix of the string features. Then we apply the singular value decomposition technique for reducing dimensions of string features. Secondly, Shannon entropy is computed over the printable strings and API calls to consider the randomness of API and PSI features. In addition to these features, behavioral features regarding file operations, registry key modification and network activities are used in malware detection. Finally, all features are integrated in the training feature set to develop the malware classifiers using the machine learning algorithms. The proposed technique is validated with 16489 malware and 8422 benign files. Our experimental results show the accuracy of 99.54% in malware detection using ensemble machine learning algorithms. Moreover, it aims to develop a behavior-based malware detection technique of high accuracy by processing the runtime features in a new way.

Suicidal behavior among Iranian psychiatric patients

Recent advances in Internet of Things (IoT) technologies require a new type of IoT security environment. Various heterogeneous smart devices have easy access to IoT environment, and as the number of users increases, they are exposed to various threats such as malicious attacks on IoT devices and IoT infrastructure, and data tampering by malicious code. Malware detection in IoT requires data and models for continuous and changing learning of smart devices. Methods/Statistical analysis: To minimize these security threats, various malware detection techniques in the field of IoT security have been studied. Malware detection in IoT environment is important for data derivation and learning model required for continuous and changing learning of smart devices. The metadata of malware detection can be normalized by the value of device id, time, behavior, location and state. This paper proposes behavior-based malware detection using deep learning (BMD-DL). Findings: BMD-DL was able to collect metadata about behavior-based malicious behavior and learn and detect malicious codes through deep learning. In addition, through the learned model, IoT Security is provided by disconnecting malicious devices that cause malicious behavior in the IoT environment. Improvements/Applications: BMD-DL collects behavioral data generated from multiple devices in the IoT and applies the results learned through deep learning to detect persistent malware.

Combined dynamic multi-feature and rule-based behavior for accurate malware detection

Malware have become the scourge of the century, as they are continuously evolving and becoming more complex with increasing damages. Therefore, an adequate protection against such threats is vital. Behavior-based malware detection techniques have shown to be effective at overcoming the weaknesses of the signature-based ones. However, they are known for their high false alarms, which is still a very challenging problem. In this article, we address this shortcoming by proposing a rule-based behavioral malware detection system, which inherits the advantages of both signature and behavior-based approaches. We apply the proposed detection system on a combined set of three types of dynamic features, namely, (1) list of application programming interface calls; (2) application programming interface sequences; and (3) network traffic, which represents the IP addresses and domain names used by malware to connect to remote command-and-control servers. Feature selection and construction techniques, that is, term frequency–inverse document frequency and longest common subsequence, are performed on the three extracted features to generate new set of features, which are used to build behavioral Yet Another Recursive Acronym rules. The proposed malware detection approach is able to achieve an accuracy of 97.22% and a false positive rate of 4.69%.

Leveraging Compression-Based Graph Mining for Behavior-Based Malware Detection

Behavior-based detection approaches commonly address the threat of statically obfuscated malware. Such approaches often use graphs to represent process or system behavior and typically employ frequency-based graph mining techniques to extract characteristic patterns from collections of malware graphs. Recent studies in the molecule mining domain suggest that frequency-based graph mining algorithms often perform sub-optimally in finding highly discriminating patterns. We propose a novel malware detection approach that uses so-called compression-based mining on quantitative data flow graphs to derive highly accurate detection models. Our evaluation on a large and diverse malware set shows that our approach outperforms frequency-based detection models in terms of detection effectiveness by more than 600 percent.

Malware Detection Using Online Information Sharing Platforms and Behavior Based Analysis

The recent years have seen many cyber attacks that left people bewitched. The malwares are evolving everyday rendering the traditional anti-viruses useless. This paper deals with an approach that identifies and detects any potential threat to the system by using community based information sharing platform and behavior based malware detection using machine learning. Out of several options available, the two feasible options chosen were – VirusTotal and MISP. For signature based detection, the project uses MD5 hashes of the given file. Once the MD5 has been extracted it goes through an event search on MISP and VirusTotal; if any event is reported for the same, the file is considered malicious. And for the behavior based malware detection, multiple machine learning algorithms are used and the best one is chosen on the basis of accuracy.

Comparative Evaluation of Online Machine Learning Algorithms in Behavior-Based Malware Detection

Comparative Evaluation of Online Machine Learning Algorithms in Behavior-Based Malware Detection

Employing Program Semantics for Malware Detection

In recent years, malware has emerged as a critical security threat. In addition, malware authors continue to embed numerous anti-detection features to evade the existing malware detection approaches. Against this advanced class of malicious programs, dynamic behavior-based malware detection approaches outperform the traditional signature-based approaches by neutralizing the effects of obfuscation and morphing techniques.

Abstracting minimal security-relevant behaviors for malware analysis

Dynamic behavior-based malware analysis and detection is considered to be one of the most promising ways to combat with the obfuscated and unknown malwares. To perform such analysis, behavioral feature abstraction plays a fundamental role, because how to specify program formally to a large extend determines what kind of algorithm can be used. In existing research, graph-based methods keep a dominant position in specifying malware behaviors. However, they restrict the detection algorithm to be chosen from graph mining algorithm. In this paper, we build a complete virtual environment to capture malware behaviors, especially that to stimulate network behaviors of a malware. Then, we study the problem of abstracting constant behavioral features from API call sequences and propose a minimal security-relevant behavior abstraction way, which absorbs the advantages of prevalent graph-based methods in behavior representation and has the following advantages: first API calls are aggregated by data dependence, therefore it is resistent to redundant data and is a kind of more constant feature. Second, API call arguments are also abstracted particularly, this further contributes to common and constant behavioral features of malware variants. Third, it is a moderate degree aggregation of a small group of API calls with a constructing criterion that centering on an independent operation on a sensitive resource. Fourth, it is very easy to embed the extracted behaviors in a high dimensional vector space, so that it can be processed by almost all of the prevalent statistical learning algorithms. We then evaluate these minimal security-relevant behaviors in three kinds of test, including similarity comparison, clustering and classification. The experimental results show that our method has a capacity in distinguishing malwares from different families and also from benign programs, and it is useful for many statistical learning algorithms.

Holography: a behavior-based profiler for malware analysis

Behavior-based detection and signature-based detection are two popular approaches to malware (malicious software) analysis. The security industry, such as the sector selling antivirus tools, has been using signature and heuristic-based technologies for years. However, this approach has been proven to be inefficient in identifying unknown malware strains. On the other hand, the behavior-based malware detection approach has a greater potential in identifying previously unknown instances of malicious software. The accuracy of this approach relies on techniques to profile and recognize accurate behavior models. Unfortunately, with the increasing complexity of malicious software and limitations of existing automatic tools, the current behavior-based approach cannot discover many newer forms of malware either. In this paper, we implement ‘holography platform’, a behavior-based profiler on top of a virtual machine emulator that intercepts the system processes and analyzes the CPU instructions, CPU registers, and memory. The captured information is stored in a relational database, and data mining techniques are used to extract information. We demonstrate the breadth of the ‘holography platform’ by conducting two experiments: a packed binary behavior analysis and a malvertising (malicious advertising) incident tracing. Both tasks are known to be very difficult to do efficiently using existing methods and tools. We demonstrate how the precise behavior information can be easily obtained using the ‘holography platform’ tool. With these two experiments, we show that the ‘holography platform’ can provide security researchers and automatic malware detection systems with an efficient malicious software behavior analysis solution. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.