Improving the detection of unknown computer worms activity using active learning

Robert Moskovitch, Nir Nissim, Dima Stopel, Clint Feher, Roman Englert, Yuval Elovici

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Detecting unknown worms is a challenging task. Extant solutions, such as anti-virus tools, rely mainly on prior explicit knowledge of specific worm signatures. As a result, after the appearance of a new worm on the Web there is a significant delay until an update carrying the worm's signature is distributed to anti-virus tools. We propose an innovative technique for detecting the presence of an unknown worm, based on the computer operating system measurements. We monitored 323 computer features and reduced them to 20 features through feature selection. Support vector machines were applied using 3 kernel functions. In addition we used active learning as a selective sampling method to increase the performance of the classifier, exceeding above 90% mean accuracy, and for specific unknown worms 94% accuracy.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationKI 2007
Subtitle of host publicationAdvances in Artificial Intelligence - 30th Annual German Conference on AI, KI 2007, Proceedings
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages489-493
Number of pages5
ISBN (Print)9783540745648
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2007
Event30th Annual German Conference on Artificial Intelligence, KI 2007 - Osnabruck, Germany
Duration: 10 Sep 200713 Sep 2007

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume4667 LNAI
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference30th Annual German Conference on Artificial Intelligence, KI 2007
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityOsnabruck
Period10/09/0713/09/07

Keywords

  • Active learning
  • Classification
  • Malcode detection
  • Support vector machines

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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