Title: Deep Learning Based Cryptographic Primitive Classification,
Abstract: Cryptovirological augmentations present an immediate, incomparable threat.
Over the last decade, the substantial proliferation of crypto-ransomware has
had widespread consequences for consumers and organisations alike. Established
preventive measures perform well, however, the problem has not ceased. Reverse
engineering potentially malicious software is a cumbersome task due to platform
eccentricities and obfuscated transmutation mechanisms, hence requiring
smarter, more efficient detection strategies. The following manuscript presents
a novel approach for the classification of cryptographic primitives in compiled
binary executables using deep learning. The model blueprint, a DCNN, is
fittingly configured to learn from variable-length control flow diagnostics
output from a dynamic trace. To rival the size and variability of contemporary
data compendiums, hence feeding the model cognition, a methodology for the
procedural generation of synthetic cryptographic binaries is defined, utilising
core primitives from OpenSSL with multivariate obfuscation, to draw a vastly
scalable distribution. The library, CryptoKnight, rendered an algorithmic pool
of AES, RC4, Blowfish, MD5 and RSA to synthesis combinable variants which are
automatically fed in its core model. Converging at 91% accuracy, CryptoKnight
is successfully able to classify the sample algorithms with minimal loss.