Microsoft and Intel Project Converts Malware Into Images Before Analyzing It

Microsoft and Intel have collaborated on a new research project that explores a new approach to detecting and classifying malware. From a report:

Called STAMINA (STAtic Malware-as-Image Network Analysis), the project relies on a new technique that converts malware samples into grayscale images and then scans the image 1 for textural and structural patterns specific to malware samples. The Intel-Microsoft research team said the entire process followed a few simple steps. The first consisted of taking an input file and converting its binary form into a stream of raw pixel data. Researchers then took this one-dimensional (1D) pixel stream and converted it into a 2D photo so that normal image analysis algorithms can analyze it.