Behavior-based malware detection

It is widely understood that signature-based detection and behavior-based malware detection serve as complementary pillars in a robust cybersecurity framework. While signature-based methods are quick and efficient for identifying known threats via a database of malware signatures, they lack the flexibility to adapt to new, “zero-day” threats and sophisticated malware that can change its code to evade detection. In contrast, behavior-based malware detection fills these gaps by being a proactive approach that focuses not on the malware’s code structure, but on its actions when executed. It monitors for suspicious activities, anomalous behaviors, or policy violations such as keystroke logging, unauthorized system access, data theft, and network traffic manipulation.

By watching out for these activities, behavior-based detection can potentially identify and block even zero-day attacks, which are new and unknown to signature-based...