MALWARE DETECTION WITH TAINT TRACKING

Malware may be identified based on attempts to use tainted data in certain ways, such as by attempting to execute the tainted data, by attempting to modify execution control based on tainted data, or by attempting to apply an existing function to the tainted data. A data's taint is determined based on the location from which the data originates. When data from a tainted source is moved to an otherwise non-tainted destination, the taint may be propagated from the source to the destination, to indicate that the destination is now of unknown safety. A component may be used to observe the operation of a process, in order to determine what data is being moved with respect to the process, and how that data is being used.