Fine-Tuning Cyber Security Defenses: Evaluating Supervised Machine Learning Classifiers for Windows Malware Detection

Malware attacks on Windows machines pose significant cybersecurity threats,necessitating effective detection and prevention mechanisms.Supervised machine learning classifiers have emerged as promising tools for malware detection.However,there remains a need for comprehensive studies that compare the performance of different classifiers specifically for Windows malware detection.Addressing this gap can provide valuable insights for enhancing cybersecurity strategies.While numerous studies have explored malware detection using machine learning techniques,there is a lack of systematic comparison of supervised classifiers for Windows malware detection.Understanding the relative effectiveness of these classifiers can inform the selection of optimal detection methods and improve overall security measures.This study aims to bridge the research gap by conducting a comparative analysis of supervised machine learning classifiers for detecting malware on Windows systems.The objectives include Investigating the performance of various classifiers,such as Gaussian Naïve Bayes,K Nearest Neighbors(KNN),Stochastic Gradient Descent Classifier(SGDC),and Decision Tree,in detecting Windows malware.Evaluating the accuracy,efficiency,and suitability of each classifier for real-world malware detection scenarios.Identifying the strengths and limitations of different classifiers to provide insights for cybersecurity practitioners and researchers.Offering recommendations for selecting the most effective classifier for Windows malware detection based on empirical evidence.The study employs a structured methodology consisting of several phases:exploratory data analysis,data preprocessing,model training,and evaluation.Exploratory data analysis involves understanding the dataset’s characteristics and identifying preprocessing requirements.Data preprocessing includes cleaning,feature encoding,dimensionality reduction,and optimization to prepare the data for training.Model training utilizes various supervised classifiers,and their performance is evaluated using metrics such as accuracy,precision,recall,and F1 score.The study’s outcomes comprise a comparative analysis of supervised machine learning classifiers for Windows malware detection.Results reveal the effectiveness and efficiency of each classifier in detecting different types of malware.Additionally,insights into their strengths and limitations provide practical guidance for enhancing cybersecurity defenses.Overall,this research contributes to advancing malware detection techniques and bolstering the security posture of Windows systems against evolving cyber threats.

Exploring the Core-shell Structure of BaTiO3-based Dielectric Ceramics Using Machine Learning Models and Interpretability Analysis

A machine learning(ML)-based random forest(RF)classification model algorithm was employed to investigate the main factors affecting the formation of the core-shell structure of BaTiO_(3)-based ceramics and their interpretability was analyzed by using Shapley additive explanations(SHAP).An F1-score changed from 0.8795 to 0.9310,accuracy from 0.8450 to 0.9070,precision from 0.8714 to 0.9000,recall from 0.8929 to 0.9643,and ROC/AUC value of 0.97±0.03 was achieved by the RF classification with the optimal set of features containing only 5 features,demonstrating the high accuracy of our model and its high robustness.During the interpretability analysis of the model,it was found that the electronegativity,melting point,and sintering temperature of the dopant contribute highly to the formation of the core-shell structure,and based on these characteristics,specific ranges were delineated and twelve elements were finally obtained that met all the requirements,namely Si,Sc,Mn,Fe,Co,Ni,Pd,Er,Tm,Lu,Pa,and Cm.In the process of exploring the structure of the core-shell,the doping elements can be effectively localized to be selected by choosing the range of features.

Robust Machine Learning Technique to Classify COVID-19 Using Fusion of Texture and Vesselness of X-Ray Images

Manual investigation of chest radiography(CXR)images by physicians is crucial for effective decision-making in COVID-19 diagnosis.However,the high demand during the pandemic necessitates auxiliary help through image analysis and machine learning techniques.This study presents a multi-threshold-based segmentation technique to probe high pixel intensity regions in CXR images of various pathologies,including normal cases.Texture information is extracted using gray co-occurrence matrix(GLCM)-based features,while vessel-like features are obtained using Frangi,Sato,and Meijering filters.Machine learning models employing Decision Tree(DT)and RandomForest(RF)approaches are designed to categorize CXR images into common lung infections,lung opacity(LO),COVID-19,and viral pneumonia(VP).The results demonstrate that the fusion of texture and vesselbased features provides an effective ML model for aiding diagnosis.The ML model validation using performance measures,including an accuracy of approximately 91.8%with an RF-based classifier,supports the usefulness of the feature set and classifier model in categorizing the four different pathologies.Furthermore,the study investigates the importance of the devised features in identifying the underlying pathology and incorporates histogrambased analysis.This analysis reveals varying natural pixel distributions in CXR images belonging to the normal,COVID-19,LO,and VP groups,motivating the incorporation of additional features such as mean,standard deviation,skewness,and percentile based on the filtered images.Notably,the study achieves a considerable improvement in categorizing COVID-19 from LO,with a true positive rate of 97%,further substantiating the effectiveness of the methodology implemented.

CL2ES-KDBC:A Novel Covariance Embedded Selection Based on Kernel Distributed Bayes Classifier for Detection of Cyber-Attacks in IoT Systems

The Internet of Things(IoT)is a growing technology that allows the sharing of data with other devices across wireless networks.Specifically,IoT systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks due to its opennes The proposed work intends to implement a new security framework for detecting the most specific and harmful intrusions in IoT networks.In this framework,a Covariance Linear Learning Embedding Selection(CL2ES)methodology is used at first to extract the features highly associated with the IoT intrusions.Then,the Kernel Distributed Bayes Classifier(KDBC)is created to forecast attacks based on the probability distribution value precisely.In addition,a unique Mongolian Gazellas Optimization(MGO)algorithm is used to optimize the weight value for the learning of the classifier.The effectiveness of the proposed CL2ES-KDBC framework has been assessed using several IoT cyber-attack datasets,The obtained results are then compared with current classification methods regarding accuracy(97%),precision(96.5%),and other factors.Computational analysis of the CL2ES-KDBC system on IoT intrusion datasets is performed,which provides valuable insight into its performance,efficiency,and suitability for securing IoT networks.

Survey on Segmentation and Classification Techniques of Satellite Images by Deep Learning Algorithm

This survey paper aims to show methods to analyze and classify field satellite images using deep learning and machine learning algorithms.Users of deep learning-based Convolutional Neural Network(CNN)technology to harvest fields from satellite images or generate zones of interest were among the planned application scenarios(ROI).Using machine learning,the satellite image is placed on the input image,segmented,and then tagged.In contem-porary categorization,field size ratio,Local Binary Pattern(LBP)histograms,and color data are taken into account.Field satellite image localization has several practical applications,including pest management,scene analysis,and field tracking.The relationship between satellite images in a specific area,or contextual information,is essential to comprehending the field in its whole.

Social Engineering Attack Classifications on Social Media Using Deep Learning

In defense-in-depth,humans have always been the weakest link in cybersecurity.However,unlike common threats,social engineering poses vulnerabilities not directly quantifiable in penetration testing.Most skilled social engineers trick users into giving up information voluntarily through attacks like phishing and adware.Social Engineering(SE)in social media is structurally similar to regular posts but contains malicious intrinsic meaning within the sentence semantic.In this paper,a novel SE model is trained using a Recurrent Neural Network Long Short Term Memory(RNN-LSTM)to identify well-disguised SE threats in social media posts.We use a custom dataset crawled from hundreds of corporate and personal Facebook posts.First,the social engineering attack detection pipeline(SEAD)is designed to filter out social posts with malicious intents using domain heuristics.Next,each social media post is tokenized into sentences and then analyzed with a sentiment analyzer before being labelled as an anomaly or normal training data.Then,we train an RNN-LSTM model to detect five types of social engineering attacks that potentially contain signs of information gathering.The experimental result showed that the Social Engineering Attack(SEA)model achieves 0.84 in classification precision and 0.81 in recall compared to the ground truth labeled by network experts.The experimental results showed that the semantics and linguistics similarities are an effective indicator for early detection of SEA.

Automated Autism Spectral Disorder Classification Using Optimal Machine Learning Model

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) refers to a neuro-disorder wherean individual has long-lasting effects on communication and interaction withothers.Advanced information technologywhich employs artificial intelligence(AI) model has assisted in early identify ASD by using pattern detection.Recent advances of AI models assist in the automated identification andclassification of ASD, which helps to reduce the severity of the disease.This study introduces an automated ASD classification using owl searchalgorithm with machine learning (ASDC-OSAML) model. The proposedASDC-OSAML model majorly focuses on the identification and classificationof ASD. To attain this, the presentedASDC-OSAML model follows minmaxnormalization approach as a pre-processing stage. Next, the owl searchalgorithm (OSA)-based feature selection (OSA-FS) model is used to derivefeature subsets. Then, beetle swarm antenna search (BSAS) algorithm withIterative Dichotomiser 3 (ID3) classification method was implied for ASDdetection and classification. The design of BSAS algorithm helps to determinethe parameter values of the ID3 classifier. The performance analysis of theASDC-OSAML model is performed using benchmark dataset. An extensivecomparison study highlighted the supremacy of the ASDC-OSAML modelover recent state of art approaches.

Ensemble Learning for Fetal Health Classification

Cardiotocography(CTG)represents the fetus’s health inside the womb during labor.However,assessment of its readings can be a highly subjective process depending on the expertise of the obstetrician.Digital signals from fetal monitors acquire parameters(i.e.,fetal heart rate,contractions,acceleration).Objective:This paper aims to classify the CTG readings containing imbalanced healthy,suspected,and pathological fetus readings.Method:We perform two sets of experiments.Firstly,we employ five classifiers:Random Forest(RF),Adaptive Boosting(AdaBoost),Categorical Boosting(CatBoost),Extreme Gradient Boosting(XGBoost),and Light Gradient Boosting Machine(LGBM)without over-sampling to classify CTG readings into three categories:healthy,suspected,and pathological.Secondly,we employ an ensemble of the above-described classifiers with the oversamplingmethod.We use a random over-sampling technique to balance CTG records to train the ensemble models.We use 3602 CTG readings to train the ensemble classifiers and 1201 records to evaluate them.The outcomes of these classifiers are then fed into the soft voting classifier to obtain the most accurate results.Results:Each classifier evaluates accuracy,Precision,Recall,F1-scores,and Area Under the Receiver Operating Curve(AUROC)values.Results reveal that the XGBoost,LGBM,and CatBoost classifiers yielded 99%accuracy.Conclusion:Using ensemble classifiers over a balanced CTG dataset improves the detection accuracy compared to the previous studies and our first experiment.A soft voting classifier then eliminates the weakness of one individual classifier to yield superior performance of the overall model.

Operating Rule Classification System of Water Supply Reservoir Based on Learning Classifier System

An operating rule classification system based on learning classifier system （LCS）, which learns through credit assignment （bucket brigade algorithm, BBA） and rule discovery （genetic algorithm, GA）, is established to extract water-supply reservoir operating rules. The proposed system acquires an online identification rate of 95% for training samples and an offline rate of 85% for testing samples in a case study. The performances of the rule classification system are discussed from the rationality of the obtained rules, the impact of training samples on rule extraction, and a comparison between the rule classification system and the artificial neural network （ANN）. The results indicate that the LCS is feasible and effective for the system to obtain the reservoir supply operating rules.

BS-SC Model:A Novel Method for Predicting Child Abuse Using Borderline-SMOTE Enabled Stacking Classifier

For a long time,legal entities have developed and used crime prediction methodologies.The techniques are frequently updated based on crime evaluations and responses from scientific communities.There is a need to develop type-based crime prediction methodologies that can be used to address issues at the subgroup level.Child maltreatment is not adequately addressed because children are voiceless.As a result,the possibility of developing a model for predicting child abuse was investigated in this study.Various exploratory analysis methods were used to examine the city of Chicago’s child abuse events.The data set was balanced using the Borderline-SMOTE technique,and then a stacking classifier was employed to ensemble multiple algorithms to predict various types of child abuse.The proposed approach successfully predicted crime types with 93%of accuracy,precision,recall,and F1-Score.The AUC value of the same was 0.989.However,when compared to the Extra Trees model(17.55),which is the second best,the proposed model’s execution time was significantly longer(476.63).We discovered that Machine Learning methods effectively evaluate the demographic and spatial-temporal characteristics of the crimes and predict the occurrences of various subtypes of child abuse.The results indicated that the proposed Borderline-SMOTE enabled Stacking Classifier model(BS-SC Model)would be effective in the real-time child abuse prediction and prevention process.

Observation points classifier ensemble for high-dimensional imbalanced classification

In this paper,an Observation Points Classifier Ensemble(OPCE)algorithm is proposed to deal with High-Dimensional Imbalanced Classification(HDIC)problems based on data processed using the Multi-Dimensional Scaling(MDS)feature extraction technique.First,dimensionality of the original imbalanced data is reduced using MDS so that distances between any two different samples are preserved as well as possible.Second,a novel OPCE algorithm is applied to classify imbalanced samples by placing optimised observation points in a low-dimensional data space.Third,optimization of the observation point mappings is carried out to obtain a reliable assessment of the unknown samples.Exhaustive experiments have been conducted to evaluate the feasibility,rationality,and effectiveness of the proposed OPCE algorithm using seven benchmark HDIC data sets.Experimental results show that(1)the OPCE algorithm can be trained faster on low-dimensional imbalanced data than on high-dimensional data;(2)the OPCE algorithm can correctly identify samples as the number of optimised observation points is increased;and(3)statistical analysis reveals that OPCE yields better HDIC performances on the selected data sets in comparison with eight other HDIC algorithms.This demonstrates that OPCE is a viable algorithm to deal with HDIC problems.

Ensemble Classifier Design Based on Perturbation Binary Salp Swarm Algorithm for Classification

Multiple classifier system exhibits strong classification capacity compared with single classifiers,but they require significant computational resources.Selective ensemble system aims to attain equivalent or better classification accuracy with fewer classifiers.However,current methods fail to identify precise solutions for constructing an ensemble classifier.In this study,we propose an ensemble classifier design technique based on the perturbation binary salp swarm algorithm(ECDPB).Considering that extreme learning machines(ELMs)have rapid learning rates and good generalization ability,they can serve as the basic classifier for creating multiple candidates while using fewer computational resources.Meanwhile,we introduce a combined diversity measure by taking the complementarity and accuracy of ELMs into account;it is used to identify the ELMs that have good diversity and low error.In addition,we propose an ECDPB with powerful optimizing ability;it is employed to find the optimal subset of ELMs.The selected ELMs can then be used to forman ensemble classifier.Experiments on 10 benchmark datasets have been conducted,and the results demonstrate that the proposed ECDPB delivers superior classification capacity when compared with alternative methods.

Clustering-Aided Supervised Malware Detection with Specialized Classifiers and Early Consensus

One of the most common types of threats to the digital world is malicious software.It is of great importance to detect and prevent existing and new malware before it damages information assets.Machine learning approaches are used effectively for this purpose.In this study,we present a model in which supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms are used together.Clustering is used to enhance the prediction performance of the supervised classifiers.The aim of the proposed model is to make predictions in the shortest possible time with high accuracy and f1 score.In the first stage of the model,the data are clustered with the k-means algorithm.In the second stage,the prediction is made with the combination of the classifier with the best prediction performance for the related cluster.While choosing the best classifiers for the given clusters,triple combinations of ten machine learning algorithms(kernel support vector machine,k-nearest neighbor,naive Bayes,decision tree,random forest,extra gradient boosting,categorical boosting,adaptive boosting,extra trees,and gradient boosting)are used.The selected triple classifier combination is positioned in two stages.The prediction time of the model is improved by positioning the classifier with the slowest prediction time in the second stage.The selected triple classifier combination is positioned in two tiers.The prediction time of the model is improved by positioning the classifier with the highest prediction time in the second tier.It is seen that clustering before classification improves prediction performance,which is presented using Blue Hexagon Open Dataset for Malware Analysis(BODMAS),Elastic Malware Benchmark for Empowering Researchers(EMBER)2018 and Kaggle malware detection datasets.The model has 99.74%accuracy and 99.77%f1 score for the BODMAS dataset,99.04%accuracy and 98.63%f1 score for the Kaggle malware detection dataset,and 96.77%accuracy and 96.77%f1 score for the EMBER 2018 dataset.In addition,the tiered positioning of classifiers shortened the average prediction time by 76.13%for the BODMAS dataset and 95.95%for the EMBER 2018 dataset.The proposed method’s prediction performance is better than the rest of the studies in the literature in which BODMAS and EMBER 2018 datasets are used.

An Efficient Differential Evolution for Truss Sizing Optimization Using AdaBoost Classifier

Design constraints verification is the most computationally expensive task in evolutionary structural optimization due to a large number of structural analyses thatmust be conducted.Building a surrogatemodel to approximate the behavior of structures instead of the exact structural analyses is a possible solution to tackle this problem.However,most existing surrogate models have been designed based on regression techniques.This paper proposes a novel method,called CaDE,which adopts a machine learning classification technique for enhancing the performance of the Differential Evolution(DE)optimization.The proposed method is separated into two stages.During the first optimization stage,the original DE is implemented as usual,but all individuals produced in this phase are stored as inputs of the training data.Based on design constraints verification,these individuals are labeled as“safe”or“unsafe”and their labels are saved as outputs of the training data.When collecting enough data,an AdaBoost model is trained to evaluate the safety state of structures.This model is then used in the second stage to preliminarily assess new individuals,and unpromising ones are rejected without checking design constraints.This method reduces unnecessary structural analyses,thereby shortens the optimization process.Five benchmark truss sizing optimization problems are solved using the proposed method to demonstrate its effectiveness.The obtained results show that the CaDE finds good optimal designs with less structural analyses in comparison with the original DE and four other DE variants.The reduction rate of five examples ranges from 18 to over 50%.Moreover,the proposed method is applied to a real-size transmission tower design problem to exhibit its applicability in practice.

An Improved Ensemble Learning Approach for Heart Disease Prediction Using Boosting Algorithms

Cardiovascular disease is among the top five fatal diseases that affect lives worldwide.Therefore,its early prediction and detection are crucial,allowing one to take proper and necessary measures at earlier stages.Machine learning(ML)techniques are used to assist healthcare providers in better diagnosing heart disease.This study employed three boosting algorithms,namely,gradient boost,XGBoost,and AdaBoost,to predict heart disease.The dataset contained heart disease-related clinical features and was sourced from the publicly available UCI ML repository.Exploratory data analysis is performed to find the characteristics of data samples about descriptive and inferential statistics.Specifically,it was carried out to identify and replace outliers using the interquartile range and detect and replace the missing values using the imputation method.Results were recorded before and after the data preprocessing techniques were applied.Out of all the algorithms,gradient boosting achieved the highest accuracy rate of 92.20%for the proposed model.The proposed model yielded better results with gradient boosting in terms of precision,recall,and f1-score.It attained better prediction performance than the existing works and can be used for other diseases that share common features using transfer learning.

Machine-Learning-Enabled Obesity Level Prediction Through Electronic Health Records

Obesity is a critical health condition that severely affects an individual’s quality of life andwell-being.The occurrence of obesity is strongly associated with extreme health conditions,such as cardiac diseases,diabetes,hypertension,and some types of cancer.Therefore,it is vital to avoid obesity and or reverse its occurrence.Incorporating healthy food habits and an active lifestyle can help to prevent obesity.In this regard,artificial intelligence(AI)can play an important role in estimating health conditions and detecting obesity and its types.This study aims to see obesity levels in adults by implementing AIenabled machine learning on a real-life dataset.This dataset is in the form of electronic health records(EHR)containing data on several aspects of daily living,such as dietary habits,physical conditions,and lifestyle variables for various participants with different health conditions(underweight,normal,overweight,and obesity type I,II and III),expressed in terms of a variety of features or parameters,such as physical condition,food intake,lifestyle and mode of transportation.Three classifiers,i.e.,eXtreme gradient boosting classifier(XGB),support vector machine(SVM),and artificial neural network(ANN),are implemented to detect the status of several conditions,including obesity types.The findings indicate that the proposed XGB-based system outperforms the existing obesity level estimation methods,achieving overall performance rates of 98.5%and 99.6%in the scenarios explored.

LDSVM: Leukemia Cancer Classification Using Machine Learning

Leukemia is blood cancer, including bone marrow and lymphatictissues, typically involving white blood cells. Leukemia produces an abnormalamount of white blood cells compared to normal blood. Deoxyribonucleicacid (DNA) microarrays provide reliable medical diagnostic services to helpmore patients find the proposed treatment for infections. DNA microarraysare also known as biochips that consist of microscopic DNA spots attachedto a solid glass surface. Currently, it is difficult to classify cancers usingmicroarray data. Nearly many data mining techniques have failed becauseof the small sample size, which has become more critical for organizations.However, they are not highly effective in improving results and are frequently employed by doctors for cancer diagnosis. This study proposes a novelmethod using machine learning algorithms based on microarrays of leukemiaGSE9476 cells. The main aim was to predict the initial leukemia disease.Machine learning algorithms such as decision tree (DT), naive bayes (NB),random forest (RF), gradient boosting machine (GBM), linear regression(LinR), support vector machine (SVM), and novel approach based on thecombination of Logistic Regression (LR), DT and SVM named as ensembleLDSVM model. The k-fold cross-validation and grid search optimizationmethods were used with the LDSVM model to classify leukemia in patientsand comparatively analyze their impacts. The proposed approach evaluatedbetter accuracy, precision, recall, and f1 scores than the other algorithms.Furthermore, the results were relatively assessed, which showed LDSVMperformance. This study aims to successfully predict leukemia in patientsand enhance prediction accuracy in minimum time. Moreover, a Syntheticminority oversampling technique (SMOTE) and Principal compenent analysis(PCA) approaches were implemented. This makes the records generalized andevaluates the outcomes well. PCA reduces the feature count without losing anyinformation and deals with class imbalanced datasets, as well as faster modelexecution along with less computation cost. In this study, a novel processwas used to reduce the column results to develop a faster and more rapidexperiment execution.

Deep kernel extreme learning machine classifier based on the improved sparrow search algorithm

In the classification problem,deep kernel extreme learning machine(DKELM)has the characteristics of efficient processing and superior performance,but its parameters optimization is difficult.To improve the classification accuracy of DKELM,a DKELM algorithm optimized by the improved sparrow search algorithm(ISSA),named as ISSA-DKELM,is proposed in this paper.Aiming at the parameter selection problem of DKELM,the DKELM classifier is constructed by using the optimal parameters obtained by ISSA optimization.In order to make up for the shortcomings of the basic sparrow search algorithm(SSA),the chaotic transformation is first applied to initialize the sparrow position.Then,the position of the discoverer sparrow population is dynamically adjusted.A learning operator in the teaching-learning-based algorithm is fused to improve the position update operation of the joiners.Finally,the Gaussian mutation strategy is added in the later iteration of the algorithm to make the sparrow jump out of local optimum.The experimental results show that the proposed DKELM classifier is feasible and effective,and compared with other classification algorithms,the proposed DKELM algorithm aciheves better test accuracy.

Opportunities and Challenges:Classification of Skin Disease Based on Deep Learning

Deep learning has become an extremely popular method in recent years,and can be a powerful tool in complex,prior-knowledge-required areas,especially in the field of biomedicine,which is now facing the problem of inadequate medical resources.The application of deep learning in disease diagnosis has become a new research topic in derma-tology.This paper aims to provide a quick review of the classification of skin disease using deep learning to summa-rize the characteristics of skin lesions and the status of image technology.We study the characteristics of skin disease and review the research on skin disease classification using deep learning.We analyze these studies using datasets,data processing,classification models,and evaluation criteria.We summarize the development of this field,illustrate the key steps and influencing factors of dermatological diagnosis,and identify the challenges and opportunities at this stage.Our research confirms that a skin disease recognition method based on deep learning can be superior to professional dermatologists in specific scenarios and has broad research prospects.