Malware: From Modelling to Practical Detection

Malicious Software referred to as Malware refers to a software that has infiltrated to a computer without the authorization of the computer (or the owner of the computer). Typical categories of malicious code include Trojan Horses, viruses, worms etc. Malware has been a major cause of concern for information security. With the growth in complexity of computing systems and the ubiquity of information due to WWW, detection of malware has become horrendously complex. In this paper, we shall survey the theory behind malware to provide the challenges behind detection of malware. It is of interest to note that the power of the malware (or for that matter computer warfare) can be seen in the theories proposed by the iconic scientists Alan Turing and John von Neumann. The malicious nature of malware can be broadly categorized as injury and infection analogously in the epidemiological framework. On the same lines, the remedies can also be thought of through analogies with epidemiological notions like disinfection, quarantine, environment control etc. We shall discuss these aspects and relate the above to notions of computability.