Reassessing feature-based Android malware detection in a contemporary context

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Muzaffar, Ali, Hassen, Hani Ragab, Zantout, Hind, Lones, Michael A
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2023
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author Muzaffar, Ali
Hassen, Hani Ragab
Zantout, Hind
Lones, Michael A
author_facet Muzaffar, Ali
Hassen, Hani Ragab
Zantout, Hind
Lones, Michael A
contents We report the findings of a reimplementation of 18 foundational studies in feature-based machine learning for Android malware detection, published during the period 2013-2023. These studies are reevaluated on a level playing field using a contemporary Android environment and a balanced dataset of 124,000 applications. Our findings show that feature-based approaches can still achieve detection accuracies beyond 98%, despite a considerable increase in the size of the underlying Android feature sets. We observe that features derived through dynamic analysis yield only a small benefit over those derived from static analysis, and that simpler models often out-perform more complex models. We also find that API calls and opcodes are the most productive static features within our evaluation context, network traffic is the most predictive dynamic feature, and that ensemble models provide an efficient means of combining models trained on static and dynamic features. Together, these findings suggest that simple, fast machine learning approaches can still be an effective basis for malware detection, despite the increasing focus on slower, more expensive machine learning models in the literature.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2301_12778
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reassessing feature-based Android malware detection in a contemporary context
Muzaffar, Ali
Hassen, Hani Ragab
Zantout, Hind
Lones, Michael A
Machine Learning
Cryptography and Security
We report the findings of a reimplementation of 18 foundational studies in feature-based machine learning for Android malware detection, published during the period 2013-2023. These studies are reevaluated on a level playing field using a contemporary Android environment and a balanced dataset of 124,000 applications. Our findings show that feature-based approaches can still achieve detection accuracies beyond 98%, despite a considerable increase in the size of the underlying Android feature sets. We observe that features derived through dynamic analysis yield only a small benefit over those derived from static analysis, and that simpler models often out-perform more complex models. We also find that API calls and opcodes are the most productive static features within our evaluation context, network traffic is the most predictive dynamic feature, and that ensemble models provide an efficient means of combining models trained on static and dynamic features. Together, these findings suggest that simple, fast machine learning approaches can still be an effective basis for malware detection, despite the increasing focus on slower, more expensive machine learning models in the literature.
title Reassessing feature-based Android malware detection in a contemporary context
topic Machine Learning
Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.12778