A review of predictive analytic applications of Bayesian network

Abstract

Malware can be defined as malicious software that infiltrates a network and computer host in a variety of ways, from software flaws to social engineering. Due to the polymorphic and stealth nature of malware attacks, a signature-based analysis that is done statically is no longer sufficient to solve such a problem. Therefore, a behavioral or anomalous analysis will provide a more dynamic approach for the solution. However, recent studies have shown that current behavioral methods at the network-level have several issues such as the inability to predict zero-day attacks, high-level assumptions, non-inferential analysis and performance issues. Other than performance issues, this study has identified common scientific characteristics which are reduced parameter, θ and lack of priori information p(θ) that causes the problems. Previous methods were proposed to address the problem, however, were still unable to resolve the stated scientific hitches. Due to the shortcomings, the Bayesian Network in terms of its probabilistic modeling would be the best method to deal with the stated scientific glitches which also have been proven in the area of Clinical Expert Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and Pattern Recognition. This study will critically review the predictive analytic applications of Bayesian Network model in different research domain such as Clinical Expert Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and Pattern Recognition and discover any potential approach available in the domain of Computer Networks. Based on the review, this paper has identified several Bayesian Network properties which have been used to overcome the abovementioned problems. Those properties will be applied in future studies to model the Behavioral Malware Predictive Analytics.