Secondary File Analysis for Malware Evasion Detection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing security platforms fail to detect malicious payloads embedded in secondary files by malicious objects that bypass secure environments, allowing malware to spread unnoticed.

Innovation Solution

A security platform that utilizes a secure environment with a file directory to monitor and analyze secondary files accessed after opening a received file, identifying and preventing the spread of malicious payloads.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If security platforms analyze files in secure environments, then malware detection capability is improved, but malware can embed malicious payloads in secondary files to evade detection

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemalware detection capabilityVSAvoidmalware evasion through secondary files
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by monitoring and analyzing secondary files before the malware payload can execute or spread. By detecting modifications to secondary files in advance and analyzing their contents proactively, the system prevents malware from establishing its presence or spreading through the secure environment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring secondary files for modifications and using this information to trigger further analysis. When a secondary file is modified, the system responds by analyzing the modified file and its contents, creating a closed-loop detection system that adapts to malware behavior.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Measurement precision

If security platforms monitor all file access in secure environments, then malware detection accuracy is improved, but system complexity and resource consumption increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemalware detection accuracyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies local quality by focusing monitoring and analysis resources on specific secondary files that show signs of modification or suspicious behavior, rather than uniformly monitoring all files. This targeted approach maintains high detection accuracy while reducing overall system complexity and resource consumption.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs partial monitoring by selectively analyzing secondary files based on modification events rather than continuously monitoring all files. This partial action approach provides sufficient malware detection capability without the overhead of comprehensive continuous monitoring of every file in the environment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP3425547B1Malware identification via secondary file analysis
Publication Date: 2026.05.20 JUNIPER NETWORKS INC
  • EP3425547B1 patent drawingFigure 1A
  • EP3425547B1 patent drawingFigure 1B
  • EP3425547B1 patent drawingFigure 1C

AI summary

A device may include one or more processors to receive a file that may be analyzed for malware; open the received file in a secure environment; determine that a secondary file in the secure environment may have been accessed based on the received file being opened; analyze the secondary file in the secure environment to identify malware; and/or perform an action associated with the received file based on the secondary file being analyzed.