This work explores the evaluation of a machine learning anomaly detector
using custom-made parameterizable malware in an Internet of Things (IoT)
Ecosystem. It is assumed that the malware has infected, and resides on, the
Linux router that serves other devices on the network, as depicted in Figure 1.
This IoT Ecosystem was developed as a testbed to evaluate the efficacy of a
behavior-based anomaly detector. The malware consists of three types of
custom-made malware: ransomware, cryptominer, and keylogger, which all have
exfiltration capabilities to the network. The parameterization of the malware
gives the malware samples multiple degrees of freedom, specifically relating to
the rate and size of data exfiltration. The anomaly detector uses feature sets
crafted from system calls and network traffic, and uses a Support Vector
Machine (SVM) for behavioral-based anomaly detection. The custom-made malware
is used to evaluate the situations where the SVM is effective, as well as the
situations where it is not effective.