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Article
Metamorphic worm that carries its own morphing engine
Journal of Computer Virology and Hacking Techniques (2012)
  • Sudarshan Madenur Sridhara, San Jose State University
  • Mark Stamp, San Jose State University
Abstract

Metamorphic malware changes its internal structure across generations, but its functionality remains unchanged. Well-designed metamorphic malware will evade signature detection. Recent research has revealed techniques based on hidden Markov models (HMMs) for detecting many types of metamorphic malware, as well as techniques for evading such detection. A worm is a type of malware that actively spreads across a network to other host systems. In this project we design and implement a prototype metamorphic worm that carries its own morphing engine. This is challenging, since the morphing engine itself must be morphed across replications, which imposes restrictions on the structure of the worm. Our design employs previously developed techniques to evade detection. We provide test results to confirm that this worm effectively evades signature and HMM-based detection, and we consider possible detection strategies. This worm provides a concrete example that should prove useful for additional metamorphic detection research.

Keywords
  • Computer science,
  • general,
  • Electronics,
  • IT,
  • Software,
  • Telecommunications,
  • Metamorphic,
  • worm,
  • morphing engine
Disciplines
Publication Date
2012
Publisher Statement
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Citation Information
Sudarshan Madenur Sridhara and Mark Stamp. "Metamorphic worm that carries its own morphing engine" Journal of Computer Virology and Hacking Techniques Vol. 9 Iss. 2 (2012)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mark_stamp/16/