Ransomware and Artificial Intelligence: A Comprehensive Systematic Review of Reviews
Therdpong Daengsi, Phisit Pornpongtechavanich, Paradorn Boonpoor, Kathawut Wattanachukul, Korn Puangnak, Kritphon Phanrattanachai, Pongpisit Wuttidittachotti, Paramate Horkaew

TL;DR
This comprehensive review synthesizes recent advances in AI, especially ML and DL, for ransomware defense, highlighting effective hybrid detection models, challenges like deception techniques, and future research directions.
Contribution
It is the first systematic review of reviews on AI-based ransomware defense, consolidating insights, identifying effective models, and proposing a roadmap for future research and practical implementation.
Findings
Hybrid models combining static and dynamic analysis are effective.
AI enables early detection and real-time response to ransomware.
Challenges include deception techniques and limited datasets.
Abstract
This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL), in ransomware defense. Using a "review of reviews" methodology based on PRISMA, this paper gathers insights on how AI is transforming ransomware detection, prevention, and mitigation strategies during the past five years (2020-2024). The findings highlight the effectiveness of hybrid models that combine multiple analysis techniques such as code inspection (static analysis) and behavior monitoring during execution (dynamic analysis). The study also explores anomaly detection and early warning mechanisms before encryption to address the increasing complexity of ransomware. In addition, it examines key challenges in ransomware defense, including techniques designed to deceive AI-driven detection systems and the lack of strong and diverse datasets. The…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsAdvanced Malware Detection Techniques · Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning · Information and Cyber Security
