Malware analysis in cloud computing: Network and system characteristics

The deployment of cloud computing environments is increasingly common, and we are implicitly reliant on them for many services. However, their dependence on virtualised computer and network infrastructures introduces risks related to system resilience. In particular, the virtualised nature of the cloud has not yet been thoroughly studied with respect to security issues including vulnerabilities and appropriate anomaly detection. This paper proposes an approach for the investigation and analysis of malware in virtualised environments. We carry out an analysis, on a system and network-wide scale, and further pinpoint some system and network features specifically by studying the example of the Kelihos malware.