Hunting distribited malware in the k-calculus

By Mila Dalla Preda and Cinzia Di Giusto.

Mila Dalla Preda
Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Informazione
Universita' di Bologna
Mura Anteo Zamboni, 7
40127 Bologna - Italy

Cinzia Di Giusto
INRIA Rhône-Alpes
655, avenue de l'Europe
Montbonnot
38 334 Saint-Ismier Cedex France

Abstract:
The defense of computer systems from malicious software attacks, such as viruses and worms, is a key aspect of computer security. The analogy between malicious software and biological infections suggested us to use the k-calculus, a formalism originally developed for the analysis of biological systems, for the formalization and analysis of malicious software. By modeling the different actors involved in a malicious code attack in the  -calculus and by simulating their behavior, it is possible to extract important information that can drive in the choice of the defense technique to apply.