Communications of the ACM
Texas Computer Scientist Outflanks Next-Generation Computer Viruses
Credit: Prentice Hall
University of Texas (UT) at Dallas researchers have developed a method for anticipating the actions of computer viruses, which could lead to a new generation of tools and strategies for fighting malware that attacks networks, servers, and personal computers.
The tools utilize computing capabilities and instructions that are already built into a wide range of computer chips in the market. "What our research was looking at was could these viruses get worse by, instead of randomly mutating, mutating in a direct fashion, so they infect a machine, actively detect what sorts of defenses are on that machine, learn about them using advanced machine learning techniques, and then actively work to defeat those defenses in a network fashion," says UT Dallas researcher Kevin Hamlen.
The research involves advanced algorithms that are used to apply programming-language research to software security. "We discovered that there's a way to automatically interrupt viruses at precisely the moment they de-crypted the malicious payload, but before it starts executing," Hamlen says.
The researchers hope to continue studying which algorithms are the most effective in creating new anti-virus programs.
From SIGNAL Magazine
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