Generative Adversarial Networks for Image-Based Malware Classification
Huy Nguyen · 2022
Malware detection and analysis are important topics in cybersecurity. For efficient malware removal, determination of malware threat levels, and damage estimation, malware family classification plays a critical role. With the rise in computing power and the advent of cloud computing, deep learning models for malware analysis has gained in popularity. In this paper, we extract features from malware executable files and represent them as images using various approaches. We then focus on Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) for multiclass classification and compare our GAN results to other popular machine learning techniques, including Support Vector Machine (SVM), XGBoost, and Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBM). We also evaluate the utility of the GANs generative models for adversarial attacks on image-based malware detection. We find that the AC-GAN discriminator is competitive with other machine learning techniques.