Abstract: Generally described, a method, software system, and computer-readable medium are provided for efficiently collecting data this useful in developing software systems to identify and protect against malware. In accordance with one embodiment, a method for collecting data to determine whether a malware is propagating in a networking environment is provided. More specifically, the method includes receiving preliminary data sets at a server computer from a plurality of client computers that describes attributes of a potential malware. Then a determination is made regarding whether secondary data is needed to implement systems for protecting against the potential malware. If secondary data is needed, the method causes the secondary data to be collected when an additional preliminary data set is received from a client computer.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method and system for automatically classifying an application into an application group which is previously classified in a knowledge base. More specifically, a runtime behavior of an application is captured as a series of events which are monitored and recorded during the execution of the application. The series of events are analyzed to find a proper application group which shares common runtime behavior patterns with the application. The knowledge base of application groups is previously constructed based on a large number of sample applications. The construction of the knowledge base is done in such a manner that each sample application can be classified into application groups based on a set of classification rules in the knowledge base. The set of classification rules are applied to a new application in order to classify the new application into one of the application groups.

Abstract: A generic RootKit detector is disclosed that identifies when a malware, commonly known as RootKit, is resident on a computer. In one embodiment, the generic RootKit detector performs a method that compares the properties of different versions of a library used by the operating system to provide services to an application program. In this regard, when a library is loaded into memory, an aspect of the generic RootKit detector compares two versions of the library; a potentially infected version in memory and a second version stored in a protected state on a storage device. If certain properties of the first version of the library are different from the second version, a determination is made that a RootKit is infection the computer.

Abstract: Embodiments of a RootKit detector are directed to identifying a RootKit on a computer that is designed to conceal malware. Aspects of the RootKit detector leverage services provided by kernel debugger facilities to automatically obtain data in specified data structures that are maintained by an operating system. Then the data obtained from the kernel debugger facilities is processed with an integrity checker that determines whether the data contains properties sufficient to declare that a RootKit is resident on the computer.