Deferred Malware Scanning for Compute Instances
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current anti-malware techniques face challenges in effectively detecting and remediating new, previously unseen malware, as they often lack up-to-date signatures or remediation strategies.
Innovation Solution
A threat management system that defers remediation steps for a computed instance, allowing it to wait for data updates from a threat management system, and then uses updated tools to address the detected malware.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If immediate remediation is performed upon malware detection, then response time is reduced, but the effectiveness of remediation may be compromised due to lack of up-to-date signatures or strategies
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection and identification of malware, then defers the actual remediation action until updated signatures or strategies are available. This allows the system to prepare and queue remediation tasks in advance, ensuring they are executed with the most current tools while maintaining minimal operational disruption.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary component manages the transition between detection and remediation by holding detected malware instances in a deferred state. This intermediary layer allows the system to decouple detection from remediation, enabling retrieval of updated remediation strategies before execution while maintaining a clear audit trail and control flow.
2Reliability
If remediation steps are deferred to wait for data updates, then remediation effectiveness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The deferred remediation system operates autonomously by automatically detecting malware, queuing remediation tasks, retrieving updated signatures or strategies, and executing remediation without human intervention. This self-service approach manages the added complexity through automation rather than requiring manual coordination of multiple steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges the detection, deferral, update retrieval, and remediation execution functions into an integrated workflow. By combining these previously separate operations into a unified deferred remediation process, the system manages complexity through consolidation rather than multiplication of independent components.
3Measurement precision
If behavioral analysis is used to detect new malware, then detection capability is improved, but false positive rate increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback loops where behavioral analysis results are evaluated against known patterns and characteristics. When behavioral anomalies are detected, the system retrieves additional contextual information and compares it against established baselines, allowing it to distinguish between genuine malware behavior and legitimate application quirks, thereby reducing false positives while maintaining detection sensitivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A code segment executing on a compute instance may be identified as suspicious based on runtime behavior or similar behavioral analysis or the like. In order to ensure the identification and use of the most up-to-date identification and remediation tools, the compute instance may defer various remediation steps for an interval, during which the compute instance may wait for data updates from a threat management system. After the interval has passed, the compute instance may use any updated data or tools in order to address the code segment that triggered the initial malware detection.