When you think of Artificial Intelligence (AI), you may think of giant robots, smart spaceships, or android assassins from the future, but the concept is not that advanced yet, though maybe that’s a good thing. Still, there are many ways that AI enhances our lives. For example, AI aids industries like retail, finance, food delivery, health care, life sciences, manufacturing, and more in automation, learning, research, and risk assessment.
So, it probably won’t surprise you that AI and Machine Learning (ML) help modern cybersecurity software detect malicious software more efficiently too. But first, let’s ask ourselves, what are AI and ML? AI is a branch of computer science that allows machines to solve problems and make decisions more like human beings. Meanwhile, ML is a subset of AI that enables computers to improve problem-solving through experience and data analysis. A rudimentary example of machine learning is when Google Maps offers a better route for your daily commute after tracking data and your behavior.
History of Antivirus Software
Some years ago, only signature-detection technology was enough to make antivirus tools effective. Your antivirus software would regularly download the latest virus signatures to stop new threats whenever there was a new threat. Unfortunately, malware is getting smarter. Not only are viruses using different mechanisms to avoid detection, but a polymorphic virus can change its identifiable features to avoid detection.
What’s more, computer viruses are more of a legacy threat nowadays. Let’s remember that a computer virus is a malicious program that piggybacks on other files and corrupts data but doesn’t do much more than that. In other words, it’s not a particularly profitable piece of software for a threat actor.
Nowadays, hackers use more dangerous malware than viruses like sophisticated computer worms, ransomware, Trojans, rootkits, spyware, stalkerware, and keyloggers. These emerging threats may not have known signatures and could have ways to bypass your standard antivirus software.
Smarter Antivirus Software
The good news is that the best antivirus software is more advanced than ever before, capable of remediating legacy threats like viruses through signature detection technology, as well as advanced threats that don’t have known signatures through behavioral examination. Good antivirus software employs proactive anti-malware technology powered by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in a process researchers call heuristic analysis.
In a nutshell, intelligent anti-malware virus scan software analyses a potentially malicious program’s overall structure, programming logic, and data. All the while, it looks for things like unusual instructions or suspicious code. In this way, it assesses the likelihood that the program contains malware.
Another advantage of heuristics analysis is its ability to detect malware in files and boot records before the malware has a chance to run and infect your computer. This technique is critical for stopping boot sector viruses and malware. After all, boot sector viruses are challenging to remove after they encrypt the boot sector, and victims of such attacks often have no choice but to format that storage drives and lose critical data. So, as you can see, heuristics-enabled anti-malware is proactive, not reactive.
Zero-Day Threats
Zero-day threats are almost impossible to stop because they exploit software vulnerabilities that don’t have patches. Either the software developer doesn’t know about these flaws or has, for some reason, ignored them. Here are some infamous examples of zero-day malware:
- Stuxnet: The Stuxnet worm exploited flaws in Siemens equipment to breach Iran’s nuclear program. The dangerous worm also had a rootkit component that helped it evade detection. Although Stuxnet was a cyberweapon, it eventually made its way into the wild. Other threat actors used Stuxnet code to develop more malware, hitting companies in the Middle East, United States, Canada, and Europe.
- WannaCry: The WannaCry ransomware strike is one of the most devastating attacks of its kind. It caused billions of dollars in damage worldwide as it spread by manipulating Microsoft Server Message Block (SMB) weaknesses.
- Pegasus: The Pegasus spyware is one of the most sophisticated malware ever made. The spyware can read emails, social media posts, texts, usernames, passwords, and copy confidential images and videos. It can even track target locations. Pegasus thrived by exploiting vulnerabilities in iPhone software.
Although zero-day threats are incredibly challenging to stop, cybersecurity software that uses Machine Learning to power Anomaly Detection can also find some zero-day threats. With heuristic analysis, it can detect, isolate, and remediate malware that raises red flags, even if it doesn’t have a known signature.
