An effectiveness analysis of transfer learning for the concept drift problem in malware detection

[EN] Malware classification is a task that has acquired importance due to the increase in malware distribution. In the literature, the application of machine learning techniques is proposed to tackle this task because machine learning models may be able to detect new malware variants more effectivel...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Escudero García, David, Castro García, Noemí de, Muñoz Castañeda, Ángel Luis
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de León
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/22164
Acceso en línea:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417422017468?via%3Dihub
https://hdl.handle.net/10612/22164
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Informática
Matemáticas
Transfer learning
Machine learning
Malware detection
Concept drift
Cybersecurity
1207.03 Cibernética
1203.04 Inteligencia Artificial
1209.03 Análisis de Datos
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Malware classification is a task that has acquired importance due to the increase in malware distribution. In the literature, the application of machine learning techniques is proposed to tackle this task because machine learning models may be able to detect new malware variants more effectively than traditional signature-based solutions. Nonetheless, there are some difficulties in the application of machine learning in this field, particularly the presence of concept drift, that must be addressed by keeping models up to date in order to detect new threats. In this research, we carry out an evaluation of the performance of transfer learning techniques on the problem of malware detection over different time horizons and on several learning settings. We carry out experiments on unbalanced data with different file types to better reflect additional challenges in malware detection. Our goal is to determine whether transfer learning may be helpful to solve the concept drift problem, and construct models that can detect new malware by using the information obtained from past data.