An Evaluation of Image-Based Malware Classification Using Machine Learning

This paper investigates the image-based malware classification using machine learning techniques. It is a recent approach for malware classification in which malware binaries are converted into images (i.e. malware images) prior to feeding machine learning models, i.e. k-nearest neighbour (k-NN), Naive Bayes (NB), Support Vector Machine (SVM) or Convolution Neural Networks (CNN). This approach relies on image texture to classify a malware instead of signatures or behaviours of malware collected via malware analysis, thus it does not encounter a problem if the signatures of a new malware variant has not been collected or the behaviours of a new malware variant has not been updated.