Windows 10: Microsoft AI malware competition explores predictive tech security

Brink · Dec 14, 2018

Predictive technologies are already effective at detecting and blocking malware at first sight. A new malware prediction competition on Kaggle will challenge the data science community to push these technologies even further—to stop malware before it is even seen.

The Microsoft-sponsored competition calls for participants to predict if a device is likely to encounter malware given the current machine state. Participants will build models using 9.4GB of anonymized data from 16.8M devices, and the resulting models will be scored by their ability to make correct predictions. Winning teams get $25,000 in total prizes.

The competition provides academics and researchers with varied backgrounds a fresh opportunity to work on a real-world problem using a fresh set of data from Microsoft. Results from the contest will help us identify opportunities to further improve Microsoft’s layered defenses, focusing on preventative protection. Not all machines are equally likely to get malware; competitors will help build models for identifying devices that have a higher risk of getting malware so that preemptive action can be taken.

Cybersecurity is the central challenge of our digital age. Today, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Windows Defender ATP) uses intelligent systems to protect millions of devices against cyberattacks every day. Machine learning and artificial intelligence drive cloud-delivered protections that catch and predict new and emerging threats.

We also believe in the power of working with the broader research community to stay ahead of threats. Microsoft’s 2015 malware classification competition on Kaggle was a huge success, with the dataset provided by Microsoft cited in more than 50 research papers in multiple languages. To this day, the 0.5TB dataset from that competition is still used for research and continues to produce value for Microsoft and the data science community. This new competition is organized by the Windows Defender ATP Research team, in cooperation with Northeastern University and Georgia Institute of Technology as academic partners, with the goal of bringing new ideas to the fight against malware attacks and breaches.

Kaggle is a platform for data scientists to create data science projects, download datasets, and participate in contests. Microsoft is happy to use the Kaggle platform to engage a rich community of amazing thinkers. We think this collaboration will result in better protection for Microsoft customers and the Internet at large. Stay tuned for the results, we can’t wait to see what the data science community comes up with!

Click here to join the competition.

Chase Thomas and Robert McCann

Windows Defender Research team
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Source: Microsoft AI competition explores the next evolution of predictive technologies in security - Microsoft Secure

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Brink · Dec 14, 2018

Microsoft experimenting with next tech trend: AI and machine learning

Microsoft is determined not to miss out on artificial intelligence (AI), the next big trend in technology that will, over time, filter into how everyone uses hardware, software, and the internet.

Unlike mobile, which the company missed (and continues to miss) by a mile, Microsoft has been working hard to get on top of AI, both in terms of research and integrating it into products.

One of the main reasons Microsoft has had so much success in AI research so far is down to Microsoft Research, the 1,000-strong arm of the company that deals specifically in scientific research, even if it isn’t part of Microsoft’s core business.

The top scientists at Microsoft Research made a list of predictions for 2016 and many of them focus on AI as a big trend for the coming year, showing that it’s a big focus for the company.

Elsewhere Microsoft’s thinking has swayed towards AI, including a series of high-profile acquisitions and a whole section of the company — called Garage — dedicated to building apps, many of which have artificial intelligence or machine learning built-in.

All of these acquisitions add knowledge to the Microsoft teams and bring products that bear the company’s name onto devices, especially those made by Apple or that run Android.

Microsoft has been working hard to keep up with Google, and others when it comes to AI. In the future, this could be one of the battlegrounds from which technology companies either win or lose customers. Here are the ways Microsoft is competing...
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Read more: Microsoft is experimenting with the next big tech trend: AI and machine learning WinBeta

Borg 386 · Dec 14, 2018

Beware this fake Windows BSOD from tech support scammers' malware

Microsoft has sounded the alarm over a fake installer for its Security Essentials, which attempts to trick victims into contacting bogus help centers.

Tech-support scammers have stepped up their technical game, prompting a "severe" warning from Microsoft over new Windows malware that mimics Microsoft's free Security Essentials antivirus, and then displays a fake blue screen of death, or BSoD, with an error message and a suggestion to call a 1800 number that is not a Microsoft support center.
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"Real error messages from Microsoft do not include support contact details," Microsoft said on its Malware Protection Center blog, warning of the new threat. It also never asks for payment for delivering tech support.
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Microsoft: Beware this fake Windows BSOD from tech support scammers' malware | ZDNet

malware · Dec 14, 2018

Microsoft Says Internet Explorer More Secure Than Firefox

Jeff Jones, Security Strategy Director at Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group, following his recent report putting Windows Vista ahead of Linux and Mac OS X for security, has now placed Internet Explorer ahead of the open source Firefox browser in a long-term comparative study. According to his analysis, fewer security vulnerabilities needed fixing in Internet Explorer than in the competition. Jones explains in his report Browser Vulnerability Analysis (PDF), that Mozilla has fixed 199 security vulnerabilities since November 2004, when Firefox first appeared, of which 75 were critical, 100 medium and 24 of low importance. Over the same period, a total of 87 security vulnerabilities were fixed in Internet Explorer, of which 54 were critical, 28 medium and 5 of low importance. He also notes that security updates are currently only being released for version 2.0 of Firefox, while Microsoft provides full support for earlier versions of Internet Explorer.

Source: heise Security

Windows 10: Microsoft AI malware competition explores predictive tech security

Microsoft AI malware competition explores predictive tech security

Microsoft AI malware competition explores predictive tech security

Microsoft AI malware competition explores predictive tech security

Microsoft AI malware competition explores predictive tech security - Similar Threads - Microsoft malware competition

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