학술논문

Attention-Based API Locating for Malware Techniques
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security IEEE Trans.Inform.Forensic Secur. Information Forensics and Security, IEEE Transactions on. 19:1199-1212 2024
Subject
Signal Processing and Analysis
Computing and Processing
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Malware
Behavioral sciences
Deep learning
Manuals
Task analysis
Semantics
Codes
Causality tracking
dynamic analysis
malicious behavior discovery
malware analysis
MITRE ATT&CK
Language
ISSN
1556-6013
1556-6021
Abstract
This paper presents APILI, an innovative approach to behavior-based malware analysis that utilizes deep learning to locate the API calls corresponding to discovered malware techniques in dynamic execution traces. APILI defines multiple attentions between API calls, resources, and techniques, incorporating MITRE ATT&CK framework, adversary tactics, techniques and procedures, through a neural network. We employ fine-tuned BERT for arguments/resources embedding, SVD for technique representation, and several design enhancements, including layer structure and noise addition, to improve the locating performance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to locate low-level API calls that correspond to high-level malicious behaviors (that is, techniques). Our evaluation demonstrates that APILI outperforms other traditional and machine learning techniques in both technique discovery and API locating. These results indicate the promising performance of APILI, thus allowing it to reduce the analysis workload.