Scientists Developed AntiMalware Suit "A3"- Detects Never-Before-Seen Malwares
Computer scientists from Utah University have developed a AntiMalware Suit “A3”
that detects and eradicates never-before-seen malicious programs, also
automatically repairs damage caused by them. AntiMalware Suit then
prevents the invader from ever infecting the computer again.
A3
(Advanced Adaptive Applications), was co-developed by
Massachusetts-based defense contractor, Raytheon BBN, and was funded by
Clean-Slate Design of Resilient, Adaptive, Secure Hosts, a program of
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The four-year
project was completed in late September.
Eric
Eide, research assistant professor says, A3 is a open source software
suite that works with a virtual machine – a virtual computer that
emulates the operations of a computer without dedicated hardware. A3 is
designed to protect servers or similar business-grade computers that run
on the Linux operating system. It also has been demonstrated to protect
military applications.
Eide
said, “A3 technologies could find their way into consumer products
someday, which would help consumer devices protect themselves against
fast-spreading malware or internal corruption of software components.
But we haven’t tried those experiments yet.”
They
have created “stackable debuggers,” multiple de-bugging applications
that run on top of each other and look inside the virtual machine while
it is running, constantly monitoring for any out-of-the-ordinary
behavior in the computer.
Interesting
thing about A3 is, there is no virus databases in the software like all
other virus scanners. But it checks for malicious activities in
computers to detect and eliminate viruses or malwares from the computer
system.
A3
could be used in the consumer space, such as in web services like
Amazon. If a virus or attack stops the service, A3 could repair it in
minutes without having to take the servers down.
The
team tested A3's effectiveness with the infamous bug shellshock , the
result was amazing – A3 discovered the Shellshock attack on a Web server
and repaired the damage in four minutes.
“It
is a pretty big deal that a computer system could automatically, and in
a short amount of time, find an acceptable fix to a widespread and
important security vulnerability,” Eide says. “It’s pretty cool when you
can pick the Bug of the Week and it works.”