Boosting UAH malware research

Bramwell Brizendine wants to unravel malware.

Why it matters: Many types of malware are designed with anti-debugging or anti-analysis techniques, and Brizendine is working to beat them.

Zoom in: The funding will support the Binary Emulation and Analysis Simulation Technology (BEAST), which Brizendine is working on alongside Kyle Murbach and Jared Sheldon from UAH's Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education.

• Brizendine, an assistant professor of computer science at UAH, was selected for the Young Faculty Award of $500,000 from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), toward that work.

What they're saying: "With BEAST we would be able to gain threat intelligence on the sample in question much more quickly, in an automated fashion, without requiring human analysis," Brizendine said in a release.

• "Put simply, BEAST helps us quickly and automatically understand dangerous malware that tricks or hides from analysis."

Driving the news: Malware has become a matter of national security, with Brizendine noting in the statement that hundreds of hospitals were targeted in recent years, and that colleges and universities are ransomware targets too.

• BEAST could provide threat intelligence to organizations targeted by malware so they can take preventative measures and act before they get hit, per the release.

The bottom line: "The research selected for DARPA FYA is intended to be potentially transformational and high impact," Brizendine said.