Obfuscation-based Malware Update: A comparison of Manual and Automated Methods

Abstract

This research presents a proposal of malware classification and its update based on capacity and obfuscation. This article is an extension of [4]a, and describes the procedure for malware updating, that is, to take obsolete malware that is already detectable by antiviruses, update it through obfuscation techniques and thus making it undetectable again. As the updating of malware is generally performed manually, an automatic solution is presented together with a comparison from the standpoint of cost and processing time. The automated method proved to be more reliable, fast and less intensive in the use of resources, specially in terms of antivirus analysis and malware functionality checking times.