Sang-Hoon Choi¹, Ki-Woong Park^2,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.82, No.3, pp. 4021-4039, 2025, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.061267 - 06 March 2025

Abstract The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has established edge computing as a critical paradigm for real-time data analysis and low-latency processing. Nevertheless, the distributed nature of edge computing presents substantial security challenges, rendering it a prominent target for sophisticated malware attacks. Existing signature-based and behavior-based detection methods are ineffective against the swiftly evolving nature of malware threats and are constrained by the availability of resources. This paper suggests the Genetic Encoding for Novel Optimization of Malware Evaluation (GENOME) framework, a novel solution that is intended to improve the performance of malware detection and… More >

Amel Ksibi^1,*, Mohammed Zakariah², Latifah Almuqren¹, Ala Saleh Alluhaidan¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.82, No.3, pp. 4093-4116, 2025, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.059615 - 06 March 2025

Abstract The analysis of Android malware shows that this threat is constantly increasing and is a real threat to mobile devices since traditional approaches, such as signature-based detection, are no longer effective due to the continuously advancing level of sophistication. To resolve this problem, efficient and flexible malware detection tools are needed. This work examines the possibility of employing deep CNNs to detect Android malware by transforming network traffic into image data representations. Moreover, the dataset used in this study is the CIC-AndMal2017, which contains 20,000 instances of network traffic across five distinct malware categories: a.… More >

Eliel Martins¹, Javier Bermejo Higuera^2,*, Ricardo Sant’Ana¹, Juan Ramón Bermejo Higuera², Juan Antonio Sicilia Montalvo², Diego Piedrahita Castillo³

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.142, No.3, pp. 3031-3067, 2025, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2025.061080 - 03 March 2025

Abstract The growing threat of malware, particularly in the Portable Executable (PE) format, demands more effective methods for detection and classification. Machine learning-based approaches exhibit their potential but often neglect semantic segmentation of malware files that can improve classification performance. This research applies deep learning to malware detection, using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architectures adapted to work with semantically extracted data to classify malware into malware families. Starting from the Malconv model, this study introduces modifications to adapt it to multi-classification tasks and improve its performance. It proposes a new innovative method that focuses on byte More >

Boadu Nkrumah^1,*, Michal Asante¹, Gaddafi Adbdul-Salam¹, Wofa K. Adu-Gyamfi²

Journal of Cyber Security, Vol.6, pp. 131-153, 2024, DOI:10.32604/jcs.2024.053954 - 17 December 2024

Abstract The changing nature of malware poses a cybersecurity threat, resulting in significant financial losses each year. However, traditional antivirus tools for detecting malware based on signatures are ineffective against disguised variations as they have low levels of accuracy. This study introduces Data Efficient Image Transformer-Malware Classifier (DeiT-MC), a system for classifying malware that utilizes Data-Efficient Image Transformers. DeiT-MC treats malware samples as visual data and integrates a newly developed Hybrid GridBay Optimizer (HGBO) for hyperparameter optimization and better model performance under varying malware scenarios. With HGBO, DeiT-MC outperforms the state-of-the-art techniques with a strong accuracy More >

Mahmoud E. Farfoura^1,*, Ahmad Alkhatib¹, Deema Mohammed Alsekait^2,*, Mohammad Alshinwan^3,7, Sahar A. El-Rahman⁴, Didi Rosiyadi⁵, Diaa Salama AbdElminaam^6,7

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.80, No.3, pp. 4833-4857, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2024.054849 - 12 September 2024

Abstract The article describes a new method for malware classification, based on a Machine Learning (ML) model architecture specifically designed for malware detection, enabling real-time and accurate malware identification. Using an innovative feature dimensionality reduction technique called the Interpolation-based Feature Dimensionality Reduction Technique (IFDRT), the authors have significantly reduced the feature space while retaining critical information necessary for malware classification. This technique optimizes the model’s performance and reduces computational requirements. The proposed method is demonstrated by applying it to the BODMAS malware dataset, which contains 57,293 malware samples and 77,142 benign samples, each with a 2381-feature… More >

Younghoon Ban, Myeonghyun Kim, Haehyun Cho^*

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.139, No.3, pp. 3535-3563, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2023.046658 - 11 March 2024

Abstract Antivirus vendors and the research community employ Machine Learning (ML) or Deep Learning (DL)-based static analysis techniques for efficient identification of new threats, given the continual emergence of novel malware variants. On the other hand, numerous researchers have reported that Adversarial Examples (AEs), generated by manipulating previously detected malware, can successfully evade ML/DL-based classifiers. Commercial antivirus systems, in particular, have been identified as vulnerable to such AEs. This paper firstly focuses on conducting black-box attacks to circumvent ML/DL-based malware classifiers. Our attack method utilizes seven different perturbations, including Overlay Append, Section Append, and Break Checksum,… More >

Zhiguo Chen^1,2,*, Jiabing Cao^1,2

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.75, No.2, pp. 4445-4465, 2023, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2023.038639 - 31 March 2023

Abstract The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) effect has made telecommuting and remote learning the norm. The growing number of Internet-connected devices provides cyber attackers with more attack vectors. The development of malware by criminals also incorporates a number of sophisticated obfuscation techniques, making it difficult to classify and detect malware using conventional approaches. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel visualization-based malware classification system using transfer and ensemble learning (VMCTE). VMCTE has a strong anti-interference ability. Even if malware uses obfuscation, fuzzing, encryption, and other techniques to evade detection, it can be accurately classified into its… More >

Le Duc Thuan^1,2,*, Pham Van Huong², Hoang Van Hiep¹, Nguyen Kim Khanh¹

Computer Systems Science and Engineering, Vol.45, No.3, pp. 2741-2759, 2023, DOI:10.32604/csse.2023.033420 - 21 December 2022

Abstract Android malware has exploded in popularity in recent years, due to the platform’s dominance of the mobile market. With the advancement of deep learning technology, numerous deep learning-based works have been proposed for the classification of Android malware. Deep learning technology is designed to handle a large amount of raw and continuous data, such as image content data. However, it is incompatible with discrete features, i.e., features gathered from multiple sources. Furthermore, if the feature set is already well-extracted and sparsely distributed, this technology is less effective than traditional machine learning. On the other hand,… More >

Mohammed Maray¹, Hamed Alqahtani², Saud S. Alotaibi³, Fatma S. Alrayes⁴, Nuha Alshuqayran⁵, Mrim M. Alnfiai⁶, Amal S. Mehanna⁷, Mesfer Al Duhayyim^8,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.74, No.2, pp. 3101-3115, 2023, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2023.032969 - 31 October 2022

Abstract Cloud Computing (CC) is the most promising and advanced technology to store data and offer online services in an effective manner. When such fast evolving technologies are used in the protection of computer-based systems from cyberattacks, it brings several advantages compared to conventional data protection methods. Some of the computer-based systems that effectively protect the data include Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile devices, desktop and laptop computer, and critical systems. Malicious software (malware) is nothing but a type of software that targets the computer-based systems so as to launch cyber-attacks and threaten… More >

Lojain Nahhas¹, Marwan Albahar^1,*, Abdullah Alammari², Anca Jurcut³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.74, No.2, pp. 3997-4014, 2023, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2023.028316 - 31 October 2022

Abstract There has been an increase in attacks on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, due to their growing popularity. Mobile malware is one of the most dangerous threats, causing both security breaches and financial losses. Mobile malware is likely to continue to evolve and proliferate to carry out a variety of cybercrimes on mobile devices. Mobile malware specifically targets Android operating system as it has grown in popularity. The rapid proliferation of Android malware apps poses a significant security risk to users, making static and manual analysis of malicious files difficult. Therefore, efficient identification… More >