Time-interval temporal patterns can beat and explain the malware

Despite the promise for performance and accuracy improvements of quantum inspired (QI) algorithms over classical machine learning (ML) algorithms, such gains have not been realized in practice. The quantum inspired algorithms can theoretically achieve significant speed up based on sampling assumptions and have thus far failed to outperform the existing classical ML models in practical applications. The speedup of quantum machine learning (QML) algorithms assume the access to data in quantum random access memory (QRAM) which is a strong assumption with current quantum architectures. QI algorithms assume sample and query (SQ) access to input vector and norms of matrices using a dynamic data structure. We explore the components of these models and the assumptions in this paper by surveying the recent works in QML and QI Machine learning (QIML) algorithms. We limit our study to QML and QIML models on achieving a speed up over classical ML techniques rather than individual proofs of these algorithms. This study highlights the assumptions being made that are currently not practical for QML and QIML algorithms in achieving performance advantage over classical ML algorithms.

Advancements in the implementation of quantum hardware have enabled the acquisition of data that are intractable for emulation with classical computers. The integration of classical machine learning (ML) algorithms with these data holds potential for unveiling obscure patterns. Although this hybrid approach extends the class of efficiently solvable problems compared to using only classical computers, this approach has been only realized for solving restricted problems because of the prevalence of noise in current quantum computers. Here, we extend the applicability of the hybrid approach to problems of interest in many-body physics, such as predicting the properties of the ground state of a given Hamiltonian and classifying quantum phases. By performing experiments with various error-reducing procedures on superconducting quantum hardware with 127 qubits, we managed to acquire refined data from the quantum computer. This enabled us to demonstrate the successful implementation of theoretically suggested classical ML algorithms for systems with up to 44 qubits. Our results verify the scalability and effectiveness of the classical ML algorithms for processing quantum experimental data.

Malicious software also known as "Malware" is software that uses legitimate instructions or code to perform malicious actions. Malware poses a major threat for computer security and information security in general. Over the years, malware has evolved to the point that a single malware specimen can have hundreds or maybe thousands of variants using polymorphic and metamorphic transformation to change the signature of the malware variant in propagation. The common signature-based malware detection methods are no longer robust to detect these variants due to the alteration of code. Static analysis is required to obtain these signatures and anti-virus companies are required to propagate these signature updates to their software. A faster detection method is needed to compensate the exponentially increasing number of malware variants. Machine learning is a trending approach for malware detection. This removes the need to use signature-based detection and is also faster. Software companies do not need to propagate signatures as often. Machine learning algorithms using opcode sequences can recognise patterns in the malicious code that are not present in common signatures and classify them more efficiently. Therefore, a machine learning approach for malware detection should be adopted for faster and more efficient detection. Most research in malware detection using machine learning used static attributes such as network connections, processes spawned, hashes, etc., that were not that robust to changes. In this paper we introduced our novel approach in using trigrams and PE file attributes as features for malware detection. We took a text mining approach to make our detection method more robust to polymorphism and metamorphism. The instruction sequence for critical code in malware on the assembly level is basically the same across malware families. We used opcode trigram sequences as the main feature for our machine learning algorithm. We used Support Vector Machine(SVM) as our classifying algorithm which is a discriminative classifier model that gives a definite decision whether the predicted outcome belongs to the learned class or not. The above shows our novel approach that enabled us to get higher detection rates with less features.

The aging and multimorbid population and health personnel shortages pose a substantial burden on primary health care. While predictive machine learning (ML) algorithms have the potential to address these challenges, concerns include transparency and insufficient reporting of model validation and effectiveness of the implementation in the clinical workflow. To systematically identify predictive ML algorithms implemented in primary care from peer-reviewed literature and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Conformité Européene (CE) registration databases and to ascertain the public availability of evidence, including peer-reviewed literature, gray literature, and technical reports across the artificial intelligence (AI) life cycle. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Emcare, Academic Search Premier, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, MathSciNet, AAAI.org (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence), arXiv, Epistemonikos, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar were searched for studies published between January 2000 and July 2023, with search terms that were related to AI, primary care, and implementation. The search extended to CE-marked or FDA-approved predictive ML algorithms obtained from relevant registration databases. Three reviewers gathered subsequent evidence involving strategies such as product searches, exploration of references, manufacturer website visits, and direct inquiries to authors and product owners. The extent to which the evidence for each predictive ML algorithm aligned with the Dutch AI predictive algorithm (AIPA) guideline requirements was assessed per AI life cycle phase, producing evidence availability scores. The systematic search identified 43 predictive ML algorithms, of which 25 were commercially available and CE-marked or FDA-approved. The predictive ML algorithms spanned multiple clinical domains, but most (27 [63%]) focused on cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Most (35 [81%]) were published within the past 5 years. The availability of evidence varied across different phases of the predictive ML algorithm life cycle, with evidence being reported the least for phase 1 (preparation) and phase 5 (impact assessment) (19% and 30%, respectively). Twelve (28%) predictive ML algorithms achieved approximately half of their maximum individual evidence availability score. Overall, predictive ML algorithms from peer-reviewed literature showed higher evidence availability compared with those from FDA-approved or CE-marked databases (45% vs 29%). The findings indicate an urgent need to improve the availability of evidence regarding the predictive ML algorithms' quality criteria. Adopting the Dutch AIPA guideline could facilitate transparent and consistent reporting of the quality criteria that could foster trust among end users and facilitating large-scale implementation.

CTIMD: Cyber threat intelligence enhanced malware detection using API call sequences with parameters

In brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), it is crucial to process brain signals to improve the accuracy of the classification of motor movements. Machine learning (ML) algorithms such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), decision tree (D.T.), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), naive Bayes (N.B.), and support vector machine (SVM) have made significant progress in classification issues. This paper aims to present a signal processing analysis of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals among different feature extraction techniques to train selected classification algorithms to classify signals related to motor movements. The motor movements considered are related to the left hand, right hand, both fists, feet, and relaxation, making this a multiclass problem. In this study, nine ML algorithms were trained with a dataset created by the feature extraction of EEG signals.The EEG signals of 30 Physionet subjects were used to create a dataset related to movement. We used electrodes C3, C1, CZ, C2, and C4 according to the standard 10-10 placement. Then, we extracted the epochs of the EEG signals and applied tone, amplitude levels, and statistical techniques to obtain the set of features. LabVIEW™2015 version custom applications were used for reading the EEG signals; for channel selection, noise filtering, band selection, and feature extraction operations; and for creating the dataset. MATLAB 2021a was used for training, testing, and evaluating the performance metrics of the ML algorithms. In this study, the model of Medium-ANN achieved the best performance, with an AUC average of 0.9998, Cohen’s Kappa coefficient of 0.9552, a Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.9819, and a loss of 0.0147. These findings suggest the applicability of our approach to different scenarios, such as implementing robotic prostheses, where the use of superficial features is an acceptable option when resources are limited, as in embedded systems or edge computing devices.

The purpose of this analysis is to assess the use of machine learning (ML) algorithms in the prediction of postoperative outcomes, including complications, recurrence, and death in transsphenoidal surgery. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we systematically reviewed all papers that used at least one ML algorithm to predict outcomes after transsphenoidal surgery. We searched Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases for studies published prior to May 12, 2021. We identified 13 studies enrolling 5,048 patients. We extracted the general characteristics of each study; the sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve (AUC) of the ML models developed as well as the features identified as important by the ML models. We identified 12 studies with 5,048 patients that included ML algorithms for adenomas, three with 1807 patients specifically for acromegaly, and five with 2105 patients specifically for Cushing's disease. Nearly all were single-institution studies. The studies used a heterogeneous mix of ML algorithms and features to build predictive models. All papers reported an AUC greater than 0.7, which indicates clinical utility. ML algorithms have the potential to predict postoperative outcomes of transsphenoidal surgery and can improve patient care. Ensemble algorithms and neural networks were often top performers when compared with other ML algorithms. Biochemical and preoperative features were most likely to be selected as important by ML models. Inexplicability remains a challenge, but algorithms such as local interpretable model–agnostic explanation or Shapley value can increase explainability of ML algorithms. Our analysis shows that ML algorithms have the potential to greatly assist surgeons in clinical decision making.

In the actual panorama of machine learning (ML) algorithms, the issue of the real-time information extraction/classification/manipulation/analysis of data streams (DS) is acquiring an ever-growing relevance. They arrive generally at high speed and always require an unsupervised real-time analysis for individuating long-range and higher order correlations among data that are continuously changing over time (phase transitions). This emphasizes the infinitary character of the issue, i.e., the continuous change of the signifying number of degrees of freedom characterizing the statistical representation function, challenging the classical ML algorithms, both in their classical and quantum versions, as far as all are based on the (stochastic) search for the global minimum of some cost/energy function. The physical analogue must be studied in the realm of quantum field theory (QFT) for dissipative systems as biological and neural systems, which are able to map between different phases of quantum fields, using the formalism of the Bogoliubov transform (BT). By applying the BT in a reversed way, on the system-thermal bath energetically balanced states, it is possible to define the powerful computational tool of the “doubling of the degrees of freedom” (DDF), making the choice of the signifying finite number of the degrees of freedom dynamic and then automatic, so to suggest a different class of unsupervised ML algorithms for solving the DS issue.

In an ecosystem where education is done through software interaction, the security of those systems is one key aspect which should not trouble the educators nor the children and students that interact with them. The article addresses a problem that is growing every day, new malware samples, which steal data [10], encrypt data and ask for a ransom [11], get remote access to a personal computer [12], use computer resources to mine cryptocurrencies [13]. There are presented malware analysis reports that meticulously describe malicious software's behaviour and help security professionals to mitigate the risk. The need for security brings to light new methods to protect people's devices, like using machine learning or artificial intelligence. Random forest and neural network algorithms are implemented and the results are very encouraging, the accuracy in both cases is over 95%. In the last few years, because of the increasing computer resources and the more frequent usage of cloud services, these machine learning algorithms perform better and have caught the attention of many researchers in this area. The objectives of the project include the study of malicious software in order to find mitigation strategies, important characteristics of malware families that are used to generalize the problem of ransomware and malware detection. Also, it's presented the usage of open source sandbox to capture malware's behaviour and to use the results as the input for machine learning algorithms, and the study of different algorithms which can be used in classification problems. The current work can be a strong baseline to develop more advanced and useful algorithms, using millions of samples as the input dataset.

BackgroundDespite the interest in machine learning (ML) algorithms for analyzing real-world data (RWD) in healthcare, the use of ML in predicting time-to-event data, a common scenario in clinical practice, is less explored. ML models are capable of algorithmically learning from large, complex datasets and can offer advantages in predicting time-to-event data. We reviewed the recent applications of ML for survival analysis using RWD in healthcare.MethodsPUBMED and EMBASE were searched from database inception through March 2023 to identify peer-reviewed English-language studies of ML models for predicting time-to-event outcomes using the RWD. Two reviewers extracted information on the data source, patient population, survival outcome, ML algorithms, and the Area Under the Curve (AUC).ResultsOf 257 citations, 28 publications were included. Random survival forests (N = 16, 57%) and neural networks (N = 11, 39%) were the most popular ML algorithms. There was variability across AUC for these ML models (median 0.789, range 0.6–0.950). ML algorithms were predominately considered for predicting overall survival in oncology (N = 12, 43%). ML survival models were often used to predict disease prognosis or clinical events (N = 27, 96%) in the oncology, while less were used for treatment outcomes (N = 1, 4%).ConclusionsThe ML algorithms, random survival forests and neural networks, are mainly used for RWD to predict survival outcomes such as disease prognosis or clinical events in the oncology. This review shows that more opportunities remain to apply these ML algorithms to inform treatment decision-making in clinical practice. More methodological work is also needed to ensure the utility and applicability of ML models in survival outcomes.

Building machine learning (ML) tools, or systems, for use in manufacturing environments is a challenge that extends far beyond the understanding of the ML algorithm. Yet, these challenges, outside of the algorithm, are less discussed in literature. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to practically illustrate several best practices, and challenges, discovered while building an ML system to detect tool wear in metal CNC machining. Namely, one should focus on the data infrastructure first; begin modeling with simple models; be cognizant of data leakage; use open-source software; and leverage advances in computational power. The ML system developed in this work is built upon classical ML algorithms and is applied to a real-world manufacturing CNC dataset. The best-performing random forest model on the CNC dataset achieves a true positive rate (sensitivity) of 90.3% and a true negative rate (specificity) of 98.3%. The results are suitable for deployment in a production environment and demonstrate the practicality of the classical ML algorithms and techniques used. The system is also tested on the publicly available UC Berkeley milling dataset. All the code is available online so others can reproduce and learn from the results.

Integration of machine learning algorithms in fashion design classification brought transformational change by allowing the automated analysis, categorization, and prediction of fashion items based on different attributes of the item. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in fashion design classification through machine learning techniques. Review of literature, methodology, and challenges in this area indicate that an array of algorithms and methods, stretching from traditional machine learning algorithms to convolutional neural networks and further to transfer learning approaches, is being tried and tested. In this paper, I will discuss performance comparison among several machine learning algorithms, pinning their strengths, limitations, and possible applications in the fashion industry. We further elaborate on crucial challenges, such as touching on the issue of data variability, interpretability, and others on ethical consideration issues, all pointing to the need for fairness and sustainability with respect to the representation of reality in algorithmic decision-making. This paper aims to inform researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders of the opportunities and challenges brought about by the use of machine learning in a fast-paced world like fashion, hence demystifying current directions in landscape classification of fashion design.

6 - Machine learning and deep learning algorithms for fault diagnosis of photovoltaic systems

In recent years, infections and damage caused by malware have increased at exponential rates. At the same time, machine learning (ML) techniques have shown tremendous promise in many domains, often out performing human efforts by learning from large amounts of data. Results in the open literature suggest that ML is able to provide similar results for malware detection, achieving greater than 99% classification accuracy [49]. However, the same detection rates when applied in deployed settings have not been achieved. Malware is distinct from many other domains in which ML has shown success in that (1) it purposefully tries to hide, leading to noisy labels and (2) often its behavior is similar to benign software only differing in intent, among other complicating factors. This report details the reasons for the difficultly of detecting novel malware by ML methods and offers solutions to improve the detection of novel malware. We propose to detect malware by detecting behaviors commonly exhibited by malware such as DLL injection, and process hollowing. This is based on the assumption that there is a set of behaviors that are common to most malware samples and detecting them will generalize to novel malware. Additionally, detected behaviors point analysts toward appropriate handling and mitigation strategies, which is not the case with a binary benign/malicious classification. A behavior labeling method was developed and was used to label an existing malware dataset. Results show that detecting malicious behaviors is much more difficult than simply classifying malware and goodware?achieving 80% accuracy compared to reported 99% accuracy from classifying malware and goodware. This drop is due to several reasons which are detailed in the report. We also propose to evaluate the performance of detecting novel malware by holding out a malware family for testing and training on the other families. Traditional ML evaluation will shuffle the data and then split the data into training and testing. Our method addresses the use-case when novel malware families are encountered and they require more than just a malicious or benign designation. Our results suggest that this type of evaluation is much more difficult than traditional methods and provides more realistic results, albeit, significantly worse. For our behavior detection, accuracy decreases from 80% to 68% across all behaviors when holding out a malware family from training. We show that the degradation in performance is because each malware family has distinct characteristics resulting in high extrapolations by an ML model. Here, an ML model should return an "I do not know" response and request further analysis from an analyst. We run a number of experiments that compare novel malware families to the training data using different feature representations including a genomics-inspired distance measure and features extracted by deep learning. Generally, held-out families are significantly different from the training data, resulting in unpredictable results. This has been observed generally in the ML community [22, 9]. We empirically demonstrate this in the domain of malware detection. In an attempt to improve the detection of malware behaviors, we examine the impact that additional synthetic data has on the performance of an ML model in detecting behaviors in novel malware families. We find that while synthetic data does improve the performance of ML models, often simpler methods perform better than more complicated ones. Two generative modeling techniques were examined to produce synthetic malware samples such that the behaviors present are able to be specified externally. The difficulty is due to finer grained analysis of the executable and modifying the problem from a binary classification problem to a multi-label problem. The addition of synthetic data increases the overall accuracy from 68% to 70%. While far less accurate than measures presented in academic analyses, we believe that this is more representative of real-world performance and allows models to be properly placed within a malware detection system. We suggest that in highly dynamic environments ML pipelines should determine whether an ML model is competent in the area of new data and should involve mechanisms to improve over time with a human in the loop.

Network traffic classification is the process of analyzing traffic flows and associating them to different categories of network applications. Network traffic classification represents an essential task in the whole chain of network security. Some of the most important and widely spread applications of traffic classification are the ability to classify encrypted traffic, the identification of malicious traffic flows, and the enforcement of security policies on the use of different applications. Passively monitoring a network utilizing low-cost and low-complexity wireless local area network (WLAN) devices is desirable. Mobile devices can be used or existing office desktops can be temporarily utilized when their computational load is low. This reduces the burden on existing network hardware. The aim of this paper is to investigate traffic classification techniques for wireless communications. To aid with intrusion detection, the key goal is to passively monitor and classify different traffic types over WLAN to ensure that network security policies are adhered to. The classification of encrypted WLAN data poses some unique challenges not normally encountered in wired traffic. WLAN traffic is analyzed for features that are then used as an input to six different machine learning (ML) algorithms for traffic classification. One of these algorithms (a Gaussian mixture model incorporating a universal background model) has not been applied to wired or wireless network classification before. The authors also propose a ML algorithm that makes use of the well-known vector quantization algorithm in conjunction with a decision tree—referred to as a TRee Adaptive Parallel Vector Quantiser. This algorithm has a number of advantages over the other ML algorithms tested and is suited to wireless traffic classification. An average F-score (harmonic mean of precision and recall) > 0.84 was achieved when training and testing on the same day across six distinct traffic types.