Patent · US Active

Malware detection using file names

US8621233B1 · kind B1 · utility

27Cited by
2References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 13, 2010
Grant dateDec 31, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 29, 2032

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F21/56
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Descriptions of files detected at endpoints are submitted to a security server. The descriptions describe the names of the files and unique identifiers of the files. The security server uses the unique identifiers to identify files having different names at different endpoints. For a given file having multiple names, the names are processed to account for name differences unlikely to have been caused by malware. The processed names for the file are analyzed to determine the amount of dissimilarity among the names. This analysis is used to generate a score indicating a confidence that the computer file contains malicious software, where a greater amount of dissimilarity among the names generally indicates a greater confidence that the computer file contains malicious software. The score is weighted based on file name frequency, the age of the file, and the prevalence of the file. The weighted score is used to determine whether the computer file contains malicious software.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.