Content area

Abstract

In this paper, the authors analyze the applicability of artificial intelligence algorithms for classifying file encryption methods based on statistical features extracted from the binary content of files. The prepared datasets included both unencrypted files and files encrypted using selected cryptographic algorithms in Electronic Codebook (ECB) and Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) modes. These datasets were further diversified by varying the number of encryption keys and the sample sizes. Feature extraction focused solely on basic statistical parameters, excluding an analysis of file headers, keys, or internal structures. The study evaluated the performance of several models, including Random Forest, Bagging, Support Vector Machine, Naive Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbors, and AdaBoost. Among these, Random Forest and Bagging achieved the highest accuracy and demonstrated the most stable results. The classification performance was notably better in ECB mode, where no random initialization vector was used. In contrast, the increased randomness of data in CBC mode resulted in lower classification effectiveness, particularly as the number of encryption keys increased. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the classifiers’ performance across various encryption configurations and suggests potential directions for further experiments.

Details

1009240
Business indexing term
Title
Detecting the File Encryption Algorithms Using Artificial Intelligence
Author
Publication title
Volume
15
Issue
19
First page
10831
Number of pages
22
Publication year
2025
Publication date
2025
Publisher
MDPI AG
Place of publication
Basel
Country of publication
Switzerland
Publication subject
e-ISSN
20763417
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
Document type
Journal Article
Publication history
 
 
Online publication date
2025-10-09
Milestone dates
2025-08-20 (Received); 2025-10-04 (Accepted)
Publication history
 
 
   First posting date
09 Oct 2025
ProQuest document ID
3261055287
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/detecting-file-encryption-algorithms-using/docview/3261055287/se-2?accountid=208611
Copyright
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.
Last updated
2025-10-17
Database
ProQuest One Academic