Malware Analysis Using Virtual Machine Copy-on-Write Overlays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for detecting and preventing malware are inadequate due to increasingly sophisticated malware that evades detection, and existing solutions either block legitimate attachments or require extensive system resources for analysis.
Innovation Solution
A data appliance configured to work with virtual machine servers for real-time malware analysis using copy-on-write overlays and behavior profiling, allowing for efficient evaluation of malware across multiple system configurations without the need for extensive RAM resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If malware analysis is performed using traditional methods, then detection capability is improved, but system resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual machine copies of the host system to perform malware analysis in isolated environments. Instead of analyzing malware directly on the production system, multiple virtual instances are generated, each with its own operating system and application stack. This allows comprehensive malware behavior observation without consuming excessive resources on the primary system, as the analysis occurs in dedicated virtual environments that can be created and destroyed as needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the malware analysis process into distinct virtual machine instances, each configured with specific operating systems and applications. Rather than running a single comprehensive analysis environment, the system divides the analysis workload across multiple specialized virtual machines. Each VM handles specific analysis tasks, allowing parallel processing and efficient resource utilization across the infrastructure.
2Measurement precision
If multiple system configurations are used for malware evaluation, then detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal virtual machine platform that can dynamically configure multiple operating system and application environments from a single base system. Rather than maintaining separate physical systems for each configuration, the virtualization infrastructure provides multi-functionality, allowing one physical server to emulate numerous different system configurations. This universal platform can load different OS images and application stacks as needed, providing diverse test environments without proportionally increasing physical hardware complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If virtual machine instances are created for each system configuration, then malware analysis coverage is improved, but RAM resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple virtual machine instances onto shared physical hardware infrastructure. Instead of allocating dedicated RAM to each virtual machine instance, the system combines available memory resources into a pooled infrastructure that dynamically allocates RAM to VMs based on their current needs. This consolidation allows multiple system configurations to coexist in the same physical server, with memory resources shared across instances rather than duplicated for each one.
Data Source
AI summary
Analysis of potentially malicious software samples in a virtualized environment is disclosed. One or more modifications are applied to a first virtual machine instance. The first virtual machine instance is initialized as a copy-on-write overlay associated with an original virtual machine image. Further, at least one modification includes the installation of startup instructions. The modified virtual machine instance is stared. A first set of modifications resulting from executing the first virtual machine instance is captured.