Malware Detection Tool

Overview

The Malware Detection Tool is a cybersecurity project designed to detect and analyze potential malware threats in a system. The tool provides multiple layers of malware detection using VirusTotal API scanning, YARA rule-based detection, and process monitoring to identify suspicious activities. A GUI-based interface (Tkinter) ensures ease of use.

Features

• VirusTotal API Scanner: Uploads files and retrieves threat intelligence from VirusTotal.
• YARA Rule-Based Detection: Uses predefined malware detection rules to identify malicious files.
• Process Monitoring: Detects suspicious processes running on the system.
• Graphical User Interface (GUI): A simple, user-friendly GUI built with Tkinter.
• Real-time Malware Analysis: Monitors file activities and system behavior in real-time.

Technologies Used

• Python (Core programming language)
• Tkinter (GUI development)
• VirusTotal API (Cloud-based malware scanning)
• YARA (Rule-based malware classification)
• psutil (Process monitoring)
• requests (API requests handling)
• os, hashlib, json (File handling and hashing)

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📂 Folder Structure

MalwareDetectionTool/
│── gui.py                 # GUI Interface (Tkinter)
│── virus_total.py          # VirusTotal API Scanner
│── yara_scan.py            # YARA Rule-Based Scanner
│── process_monitor.py      # Suspicious Process Detector
│── malware_rule.yara       # YARA Rules File
│── requirements.txt        # Dependencies List
│── README.md               # Documentation

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🔧 Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/akashavcoewala/MalwareDetectionTool.git
cd MalwareDetectionTool

2️⃣ Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

3️⃣ Obtain a VirusTotal API Key

• Go to VirusTotal
• Create an account and get your API key
• Add the API key to virus_total.py:

API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"

4️⃣ Run the Tool

python gui.py

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🛠️ How Each Component Works

1️⃣ GUI (gui.py)

• Provides a user-friendly interface to scan files
• Allows file selection and displays results from all scanning modules

2️⃣ VirusTotal Scanner (virus_total.py)

• Uploads selected files to VirusTotal
• Fetches results on known malware signatures
• Returns a risk assessment report

3️⃣ YARA Rule-Based Scanner (yara_scan.py)

• Uses malware_rule.yara file to check for malware patterns
• Scans files against predefined YARA rules

4️⃣ Process Monitor (process_monitor.py)

• Uses psutil to monitor running processes
• Flags suspicious activities based on behavior analysis

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📝 How to Test the Malware Detection Tool

Basic Testing

1. Run the tool (python gui.py)
2. Upload a sample file (benign or test malware like EICAR test file)
3. Check the detection results from:
   • VirusTotal API
   • YARA Rule Matching
   • Process Monitoring

Advanced Testing

• Use known malware samples in a safe environment (like a sandboxed VM)
• Modify malware_rule.yara to create custom detection rules
• Simulate suspicious processes and observe process monitoring behavior

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🔥 Interview Preparation Questions

1️⃣ General Questions

• What are different ways to detect malware?
• How does VirusTotal API help in malware detection?
• How do YARA rules work?

2️⃣ Technical Questions

• How does hashlib help in malware scanning?
• How does psutil detect suspicious processes?
• How does VirusTotal API interact with this tool?

3️⃣ Practical Implementation

• How can you improve malware detection accuracy?
• How would you integrate this tool with cloud-based security?

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🔒 Security Considerations

• Rate Limits: VirusTotal API has request limits, so avoid excessive API calls.
• False Positives: YARA rules might detect safe files as malware.
• Process Handling: Avoid terminating essential system processes.

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🚀 Future Enhancements

• Machine Learning Integration: Train a model for anomaly detection.
• Auto Sandboxing: Execute and analyze malware behavior in a VM.
• Browser Extension: Scan URLs for malware before opening them.

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📜 License

This project is open-source under the MIT License.

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📢 Acknowledgements

• VirusTotal API for cloud-based malware scanning.
• YARA for rule-based malware detection.
• psutil for process monitoring.

For any queries, feel free to reach out via GitHub Issues. 🚀