Static Malware Detection and Classification Using Machine Learning: A Random Forest Approach
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Malware remains one of the most critical threats in the digital ecosystem, targeting both mobile and desktop platforms. Traditional signature-based detection techniques face limitations in identifying polymorphic and zero-day variants. This study proposes a static analysis-based approach using machine learning classifiers, focusing on Random Forest, Decision Tree, and Support Vector Machine (SVM). The dataset was collected from MalwareBazaar, and static features such as PE headers, entropy, and API calls were extracted. Experimental results show that SVM achieved the highest accuracy at 53.2%, while Decision Tree obtained the best F1-score at 61.1%, indicating stronger recall capabilities. Random Forest provided balanced results across all metrics with a shorter training time of 0.23 s, highlighting its efficiency for practical use. These findings demonstrate that while no single classifier dominates across all metrics, Random Forest offers a trade-off between performance and efficiency, making it suitable for large-scale static malware detection systems.
Authors: Kamdan, Yoga Pratama, Rifki Sariful Munzi, Aqshal Bilnandzari Mustafa, Ivana Lucia Kharisma
Institution: Nusa Putra University
Language: English
Subfield: Signal Processing
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4414099819