DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

RV COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ®
BENGALURU-560059
(Autonomous Institution Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi)

PG 4th semester Major Project Synopsis

For
" Advanced Threat Analysis and Cyber Defense Using Intelligent Systems"

(MIT442P)
Submitted By
YASHVANTH P S
1RV23SIT18

Under the Guidance of

Prof. Poornima Kulkarni
Asst. Professor
Department of ISE

in partial fulfillment for the award of degree

of
Master of Technology
in
Information Technology

MAY 2025
 ABSTRACT
Accurate intrusion detection, malware classification, and vulnerability assessment are critical
to building secure and resilient digital infrastructures. Traditional cybersecurity systems often
treat these problems separately and rely on predefined rule sets, which are limited in
adaptability to evolving threats. This project introduces a unified machine learning-based
framework that addresses all three cybersecurity domains using data-driven approaches with
minimal manual intervention.
We employ an integrated system built with Python, utilizing libraries such as Scikit-learn,
TensorFlow, and Jupyter Notebook. Ensemble learning models like Random Forests and
Gradient Boosting are used for intrusion detection and vulnerability analysis due to their
robustness and interpretability. For malware analysis, we implement deep learning
architectures—particularly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs)—to classify malicious
files based on static and dynamic behavioral features. The framework includes both anomaly
detection and supervised classification pipelines to detect unknown threats and assess potential
system weaknesses.
The proposed system is evaluated using benchmark datasets (e.g., NSL-KDD, CIC-IDS, and
malware repositories). It demonstrates high accuracy in detecting intrusions and classifying
malware, achieving over 95% precision and recall in multiple test scenarios. Vulnerability
prediction models also show strong predictive capability, enabling proactive system hardening.
This work delivers a comprehensive and intelligent cybersecurity solution that combines
traditional and deep learning techniques to automate threat detection and improve protection
against modern cyberattacks. The framework is adaptable, scalable, and suitable for
deployment in real-world environments.

REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION
1. Hardware Requirements:
 Processor: Intel Core i7
 RAM: Minimum 16 GB
 Storage: Minimum 256 GB SSD
 GPU: NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support, 6 GB+ VRAM
 Network: Stable internet connection (for dataset downloads and updates)
2. Software Requirements:
 Operating System: Windows 11 (64-bit)
 Programming Language: Python 3.8+
  Machine Learning Libraries & Tools:
o Scikit-learn (for classic ML models)
o TensorFlow (for deep learning workflows)
o PyTorch (for flexibility in experimentation)

o Pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib (data handling & visualization)

o Jupyter Notebook / VSCode (development & testing)
o Seaborn, Plotly (for interactive visual analytics)
3. User Requirements:
 Users should have basic knowledge of cybersecurity threats and machine learning.
 Interface should allow:
o Uploading datasets (e.g., NSL-KDD, CIC-IDS, malware samples)
o Training and testing different models
o Viewing real-time or batch analysis reports
 System should provide:
o Visual feedback (e.g., confusion matrices, ROC curves)
o Exportable logs of detections, classifications, and model performance
o Easy-to-configure parameters for experimentation
4. System Requirements:

 System must support: Intrusion detection through network traffic analysis. Malware
classification using static/dynamic feature analysis. Predictive vulnerability scoring
from code or system logs.
 Models should support: Batch and real-time prediction modes. Training on custom or
external datasets. Evaluation metrics output (accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score).
 Should include: Logging mechanisms for detected anomalies or threats. Modular
design to swap or upgrade models easily. Scalability for integrating with larger
enterprise security platforms.

OBJECTIVES
1. To build a unified system that detects intrusions, analyzes malware, and assesses
vulnerabilities in real-time.

2. To integrate a multi-modal deep learning model for joint threat analysis

3. To leverage interpretable features for efficient threat intelligence.
4. To validate the system against threats performance.

METHODOLOGY

Fig 1: Block diagram of the machine learning-powered hybrid Intrusion Detection System
(IDS) workflow.

Data Data Model Training and

Integration
Collection Preprocessing Development Evaluation

Fig 2 : Machine Learning Workflow for Intrusion Detection, Malware Analysis, and
Vulnerability Assessment.
The architecture of the project includes the following steps:
a. Data Collection: Gather datasets for intrusion detection, malware analysis, and vulnerability
assessment.
b. Data Preprocessing: Clean and preprocess datasets, handling missing values and outliers.

c. Model Development: Choose appropriate machine learning models for each area and
implement ensemble learning techniques like Random Forests and Gradient Boosting.
d. Training and Evaluation: Split data into training and testing sets. Train models and evaluate
their performance using metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score.
e. Integration: Integrate models into a cohesive cybersecurity system.

1. To build a unified system that detects intrusions, analyzes malware, and assesses
vulnerabilities in real-time.
Methodology:
 Collect and preprocess heterogeneous datasets:
o Network traffic logs (e.g., CIC-IDS2017) for intrusion detection.
o Malware binaries (e.g., EMBER) for static/dynamic analysis.
o Software repositories (e.g., NVD) for vulnerability patterns.
 Design a modular pipeline:
o Stage 1: Intrusion detection → Stage 2: Malware triage → Stage 3:
Vulnerability scoring.
 Implement conditional execution: Skip subsequent stages if no threat is detected.
Tools:
 Python: Core pipeline development
 Scikit-learn: Feature standardization
 TensorFlow/PyTorch: Model deployment
 VS Code: Integrated development

2. To integrate a multi-modal deep learning model for joint threat analysis

Methodology:
 Models:
 o CNN Stream: Processes malware binaries as grayscale images.
o LSTM Stream: Analyzes network traffic time-series data.
o Transformer Stream: Parses code/textual vulnerability reports.
 Shared embedding layer for cross-threat feature correlation.

 End-to-end training with adversarial examples to improve robustness.

Tools:
 PyTorch Lightning: Model scaffolding
 CUDA: GPU acceleration
 Albumentations: Data augmentation (malware images)
 Weights & Biases: Experiment tracking

3. To leverage interpretable features for efficient threat intelligence.

Methodology:
 For intrusions: Statistical features (packet size, protocol mix, TCP flag ratios).
 For malware: Portable Executable (PE) headers + entropy histograms.
 For vulnerabilities: CVSS metric embeddings + code dependency graphs.
 Use Shapley values (SHAP) to explain model decisions.
Tools:

 LIEF: Malware binary parsing

 NetworkX: Vulnerability graph construction
 SHAP: Model interpretability
 Matplotlib: Feature visualization

4. To validate the system against threats performance.

Methodology:
 Test on hybrid datasets:
o Intrusions: CIC-IDS2017 (benign vs. DDoS/brute-force).
o Malware: VirusTotal (ransomware vs. benign executables).
o Vulnerabilities: NVD + GitHub advisory databases.
  Metrics:
o Detection: Precision/Recall (intrusions), AUC-ROC (malware).
o Vulnerabilities: Mean Absolute Error (risk score prediction).
 Compare to: Snort (rule-based IDS), MalwareBERT, and Nessus (vulnerability
scanner).
Tools:
 Pandas: Results aggregation
 Seaborn: Metric visualization
 ELK Stack: Log analysis for false positives

Expected Outcome:
The anticipated outcome of this research project is a robust and multifaceted cybersecurity
system capable of accurately detecting and classifying potential threats. By leveraging machine
learning, the system aims to enhance the ability to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats
effectively.

___________________ _______________________
Signature of Guide Head of the Department
Prof. Poornima Kulkarni Dr Mamatha G S
Asst. Professor HOD
Department of ISE Department of ISE
RV College of Engineering® RV College of Engineering®
Bengaluru – 560059 Bengaluru–560059