Hunting Distributed Malware with the k-Calculus

The defense of computer systems from malicious software attacks, such as viruses and worms, is a key aspect of computer security. The analogy between malicious software and biological infections suggested us to use the k-calculus, a formalism originally developed for the analysis of biological systems, for the formalization and analysis of malicious software. By modeling the different actors involved in a malicious code attack in the k-calculus and by simulating their behavior, it is possible to extract important information that can drive in the choice of the defense technique to apply.